Her Brown Eyes
by LovePeetaM
Summary: Ever wonder what Edward's life is like without Bella? With him having to see the face of the demon that'd killed his beloved girl everyday and not kill it? Find out. Recommended for those who've either read or know a lot about Breaking Dawn
1. Preface

Screams and yelling filled my ears as I walked away from the one thing in life that needed me. I had to. It was that thing that'd left myself lonely for another who knows how many years. But I couldn't just abandon it; leave it alone in the huge world of humans. My lifeless love wouldn't have wanted that—not for this creature we'd created.

I was sadistic and vile to have ever created such a thing. But it's what she wanted. I'd agreed to the commitment, believing that she was strong enough to survive it, but I was wrong.

What wasn't I wrong about? I'd been wrong with everything about my love and yet she still accepted me, loving me in every way possible. How could I not give her everything she wanted? Even something as cruel and as sickening as the living object in front of me.

It reminded me of her. How when you stared into her eyes, you saw more than just the chocolate coating, but a beautiful person inside. It looked so much like her, acted so much like her. Stubborn, determined; as selfless as she was. And both loved me. That's what I hated the most.

I was obligated into loving the creature in front of me because my love loved it. Looking at the beauty through a humans eyes, how could you not awe and gaze and the impecable beauty of the creature? Who knows, maybe it's more sadistic than I am.

It murdered the love of my life. It was my daughter.


	2. Keep It Moving

It was all silence in the white and open house, my own accomodations. There she was sitting on the edge of the white couch, bruised and incredibly tired. She was weak and we all knew that, but she refused to let it go. Her chance of survival? Very little.

And I was the vampire that had brought the thing to life that was killing her slowly, breaking every single bone in her fragile little body.

She'd been through many terrible accidents, all that she could easily handle—some with my help—but there was no way that she would withstand this. I had to destroy it. But she wouldn't let me. She'd loved it.

In a moment there was silence, nothing but pure and utterly suspensful silence—except for the thoughts that I could hear easily.

Jasper thinking about his own past as a young vampire; Alice looking the future to see if Jasper would always be safe; Rosalie only wondering about herself and how the thing would look in her arms; Emmett paying attention to the football game on the television, thinking some nasty words about the boring game; Carlisle thinking of his medical chances of helping Bella; Esme concerned about how I would react to the nonsurvival—personally about my unhappiness—and if Bella would be able to survive this with the least bit of care.

And then there were Jacob's thoughts. They were nasty thoughts about me, him knowing that in the end, I'd be the one who'd kill her. I'd accepted his thoughts kindly, knowing that he was right, knowing that I would've been the only one who'd eventually kill her.

But then his thoughts changed. He was reminiscing about every moment that he'd spent with Bella; running over his fantasies and what it would've been like if Bella turned to him instead of me, if she'd loved him more instead of me. After this was over, he'd rip me to shreds and I would take it with grace and go out in style, dying for Bella. Either that or he'd have me suffer by keeping me alive, no matter how much I'd begged him to murder me the moment she died.

That'd be better for me.

Then the buzzing of thoughts was interrupted when there came a new sound. The sound of bones cracking, breaking apart limb by limb.

Bella had fallen limp into Rosalie's arms as I'd realized what had gone wrong.

"The placenta must have detached!" Rosalie and I rushed her up to the attic, Jacob on my heels.

"Get him out!" Bella's voiced cracked with curdling blood, choking her as more bones broke inside her. "He can't breathe! Do it now!"

"The morphine—." She needed it. There was no way she was going to be in pain for this delivery.

"No! Now—." More blood had choked her while blood popped out of her eye sockets. I placed her head up so that she could breathe easily, cleaning off her mouth with a napkin. Bella's skin was turning darker and darker as more bones cracked. The only part that wasn't black or purple was the surface underneath the skin that held the bulge on her stomach together, a scarlet red. Rosalie held up a scalpel.

"Let the morphine spread!" I shouted to her. Bella was not going to be in pain.

"There's no time!" she hissed back. "He's dying!"

As Rosalie's hand touched the middle of Bella's huge stomach, blood squirted everywhere; fountains of it spilling out with no way to stop. Bella twitched in place.

I noticed Rosalie losing control, her eyes turning black and her lips pulling over her teeth—a girl just needing the thirst.

"No, Rose!" I yelled, hoping to grab her attention so that Bella could be safe with the minimum amount of blood to get her through this. I wanted to use my hands to stop her, shove her against the wall maybe, but they held Bella up straight so that she had the little possibility of breathing.

Without even thinking, Jacob threw himself against Rosalie's body, stopping her from even taking a drop of Bella's blood. Jacob fought, no matter the scalpel digging through his skin, to keep Bella alive. He must've enjoyed hitting and punching her when she didn't fight back.

As soon as Jacob had her beat from head to toe, Alice dragged her back so that she had a good grip on Rosalie. Jacob stood up, breathing heavily from the victorious little fight of his. "Alice, get her out of here!" If Rosalie had any chance of getting to Bella then she'd be dead right then and there, no stopping her. "Take her to Jasper and _keep_ her there! Jacob, I need you!" Who thought I'd need help from a dog to save the love of my life. I did owe him many thanks to keeping her alive until this moment. "CPR?" I suggested. What else was there that we could do?

"Yes!" He had a murderous look in his eyes that I knew all to well. I could tell his thoughts without even needing to read them. If she couldn't survive this—which was bound to happen—he'd pick a fight the instant he knew she was dead, the instant her heart took her last beat.

"Get her breathing! I've got to get him out before—." Another breaking had gotten me into mid-sentence, a sharper more defined snap. I waiting for a horror scream to escape her mouth, Bella's legs went limp in a unnormal, unnatural way. Still nothing came from her lips.

"Her spine." I was the only snap that could've given her an unnatural response like that. That was really bad.

"Get it _out _of her!" Jacob screeched at me, pumping Bella's body beneath his fire-burning hands. His hands flung towards me, tossing me the scalpel that Rosalie had held previously. "She won't feel anything now!" He scowled at me before returning back to her head, releasing a huge breath into her lungs that inflated but then released. Bella was hardly breathing.

However, her heart was still thumping. That was a good sign.

_Keep it going! You promised. Keep your heart beating! _ Jacob's thoughts were impossible—but since I met Bella, nothing seemed impossible any more. Was there a chance that she'd survive this? Even as a vampire? Unlikely. And that answer scared me, no matter how much Jacob pleaded her to live. I couldn't help but hope along with him.

The throat went nuts as her blood spilled to the floor, more like a waterfall now. Nevertheless, I managed to keep under control. Because I loved her. I couldn't lose control now, not when she needed me the most. There was only way I was going to get this thing out of her.

My fangs ripped into her skin, tearing it apart so that I could pull out the beast that would possibly kill Bella. I didn't mind the blood dripping into my mouth. There was no frenzy that would stop me from getting this thing out of her. I couldn't lose control.

Her body laid still as I reached my hands into her womb—a feeling I didn't really enjoy as a vampire, but as a man, I was ecstatic to be feeling inside her.

"Renesmee." So it wasn't the boy she'd dreamt of. It wasn't her Edward Jacob that she'd hoped for, seen in her dreams, in her thoughts—the ones I couldn't hear.

I stared into the creature's eyes. Not as a I-want-to-murder-you look, but as a father seeing his daughter for the very first time. It was nothing like anything that I'd seen on those interesting medical shows I'd watch decades ago. But this creature, she was a new Bella. Or say, a mix of Bella and I. She had golden locks like mine, but long and curly like Bella's. Her temperature was similar to that of a human's, but it was impenetrable like mine. She looked back at me with something that I'd always hoped I'd see. Renesmee had her brown eyes, the ones I adored so very much ever since I met Bella. Thankfully, those hadn't been lost at all.

Renesmee smiled at me, obviously she had razor teeth like me and was utterly beautiful for a vile creature.

"Let me…. Give her to me." Bella managed to choke out words before reaching out her arms to hold Renesmee.

I handed Bella our daughter. So Bella had lasted the delivery. That wasn't natural either but what about Bella that had been normal? I wonder if Renesmee's as clumsy as Bella, or if she's graceful like a vampire is? I stared at Bella as she moaned and crooned at our daughter.

"Renesmee. So beautiful." I still couldn't believe that Bella was able to speak with coherence. Especially after a day like today.

And then her skin ripped.

I stared at Jacob, wondering what could've been ripping her skin, if it was her skin that was ripping, but then it'd hit me only seconds later. Renesmee had her face buried into Bella's breast, sucking the lasts of blood from Bella's screwed up and majorly damaged body.

I yanked Renesmee out of Bella's hands as she gasped in severe pain. "No, Renesmee." What else was I to say? That she should've just sucked the blood like a normal vampire? The disgusting creature she was for biting her own mother; however, I couldn't really blame her for her untrained behavior. But did she have to bite Bella? If I hadn't given Bella our daughter, like I had everything else, then she wouldn't have been biten. I couldn't change that now. But what was I to do with the monster? I only had two hands.

And then I heard it. The thing that had hurt me the most, the one thing I never wanted to hear…ever.

Jacob recognized the sound, too, and I could tell that he didn't want to hear it either. His hands were immediately over her chest, trying to pump her heart again and again. I could see the tears beginning to stream down his face through the corner of my eye.

But she lay there beautifully. Though her heart had beaten for its last time, she still looked beautiful. Though she was covered in blood that would've sent my mind on an attack, on a much wanted need, she still looked beautiful. She always managed to do that no matter what had happened to her. It stunned me.

"What are you waiting for?" Jacob snapped at me, still plunging his own hot breath down her throat, attempting to keep her breathing. This was a moment where I wished Carlisle was here. His pumping was loud and clear. One. Two. Three. Four. One. Two. Three. Four.

"Take the baby." I ordered, not knowing what he'd do with it.

"Throw it out the window!" he yelled back, still pumping Bella's heart together as it failed in the process again and again. One. Two. Three. Four.

"Give her to me." Rosalie appeared in the doorway, her voice selfish towards handling the baby, not even caring about Bella's health.

Jacob and I hissed at the same time, thinking the same thing.

_No! You almost killed Bella now get away from her! _His thoughts, on the other hand, were more specific than mine were but still had the same intention towards her murdering Bella before.

"I've got it under control. Give me the baby, Edward. I'll take care of her until Bella has changed." I tossed her the baby before taking the syringe that was on the counter beside me. My venom was the only way to save her now.

"Move you hands, Jacob." I needed to get to her heart to have this work.

"What's that?" Always the curious one.

"My venom," I answered back in a straight voice, determined to get this through her heart in only a matter of time.

I plunged the silver-glinting syringe through her skin and straight to her heart. It was the only way now and it would take time for her heart to stop beating but for her eyes to open. It would tear me apart but I had to do it.

"Keep it moving." If Jacob was able to keep the heart pumping then the blood would pulse through her veins and my venom would spread along with the morphine. However, there was little hope that this would all work out great—or even good.

My teeth moved swiftly over her skin. Any surface I could find was bitten by my own mouth, injecting more of my venom into her bloodstream. My cold tongue swept her skin, closing the gap so the venom had no way of ever coming out and so that her blood wouldn't spill anymore than it'd already had. Her skin tore again and again as I injected even more of my venom into her system. I had to get as much venom into her system as possible before her heart took it's last beat.

_I know it's too late. I know she's dead. The pull's not there so she must be dead. She left us. Her body left no more draw for me to grasp on to. There's no senseless need to be near her anymore. That need's vanished. _Now Jacob's thoughts were impossible. What pull that was, I didn't know. But I did know that she wasn't dead. That she was alive and would somehow last this.

"Go, then." I snapped. "She's not dead. She's going to be fine." I couldn't work with someone who had no hope. Jacob was useless if he didn't believe she could make it through. Snapping three of his fingers, he stomped downstairs where every other vampire in my family was waiting impatiently for news.

_Either he'll come down tonight or he won't come down for a few days._

_I sure hope she's alright. He'll be so sad if she leaves him. And I can't have him go to the Volturi and die for her. But if it's what he wants then I'll let him go and break my heart._

_I CAN'T SEE ANYTHING WITH THAT HALF-HUMAN, HALF-VAMPIRE IN THIS ROOM! UGH!!_

_I hope everything's okay. Maybe if I go upstairs; he might need help with her. Naw, I shouldn't bother him._

_Her blood smells delicious._

_She's going to die, and I'm going to kill him._

_What a cutie! Such a pretty baby! Too bad you didn't kill Bella yet! _

That thought threw me off. If Bella did—or even if she didn't—Rosalie would be dead for that thought. Maybe Jacob would enjoy killing her, just for the fun of it.

And then I could smell it. I could hear it, too. The morphine was fighting the venom and both had fully spread around her body. I could hear her heart firing up like a helicopter ready to fly. I backed up and sat in the chair behind me. This could be a long wait.

A few hours later, her heart sped up even more. It was agony because she hadn't made a sound. No screaming, no yelling for me to kill her. Hell, she didn't even move a muscle.

And then it'd stopped altogether. My head snapped up in response. I'd believed it, that she'd live, but her heart had taken its final beat as she laid breathlessly on the table in front of me. Dead.


	3. Italy

There I sat, watching the love of my life die. There was nothing I could do now; nothing I could do to save her, to give her the eternally damned life that she'd wanted just so she could be with me. There was nothing left in me anymore; no reason to keep living in a world where she wasn't living in it either; to survive without her, it was too much for my dead heart.

It was as if my heart had been ripped out and taken into the darkness of humanity. She'd taken it with her and now I'd never get it back. There was nothing to fill in the empty hole of my heart now. So there was one thing I had to do.

Actually, there were two things I had to do. First, kill the beast that would murder my love. She was just downstairs. I had to. What kind of monster kills their own mother? Renesmee. Second, I had to be suicidal, just like I had the last year when I'd left a void in my heart from leaving Bella. I shuddered at the memory. My plans would be the same—and Alice would obviously see them and try and stop me but I don't care. I had to be with her no matter what.

So I marched downstairs, ready to kill her; to kill Renesmee. It didn't help that Rosalie was in my way. I'd try to get through her and then Emmett would have my head. That'd be a good way to die, too; killed by my own brother and sister. But that would give Esme grief against Emmett and Rosalie as they thrived to keep Renesmee and each other alive.

As soon as I came to the bottom of the staircase, everyone stared at me with the same question, not wanting to ask it aloud.

_Is she okay?_

How could Bella be okay? She was dead. There was no specific answer that I could say without tearing apart, curling up into a ball that held me in the darkness of my ripped out heart. So I just shook my head.

Carlisle walked over, patting his hand on my shoulder as if a form of sympathy. I just shook it off. I didn't need comfort from anyone but her, and she wasn't here. She was gone away from me forever, the forever that she wanted to be with me.

_I'm so sorry, Edward. _Apparently Esme could read the sorrow in my facial expression. There was no happiness for me now; something that Esme had been wishing Bella would give me eternally. I just shook my head again, specifically at her. Again, I didn't need the sympathy from anyone but Bella; and which I wouldn't have if Bella were here so she couldn't feel sympathy for me at all.

_It's okay, Edward. I killed my most potent blood the first time it'd hit me. _I turned to Emmett with the joking matter and scowled at him. This was nothing like he'd ever experienced and he'd been the one who'd suggested I cheat and murder Bella myself the first time I met her, but I just couldn't.

_Yeah! _That thought had me furious. Rosalie wouldn't live a second longer if she'd realized how much grief and sorrow Bella's death had caused me. It was more than he pigheadedness could be inside her head and yet she still insulted the love of my life, cheering her death.

I growled lowly and fiercly at Rosalie. Her head snapped back with a hiss and Emmett stood up. Not minding, I lunged at her head, knowing that I would kill the beast in the same attempt.

Then something hard hit me. My own brother.

_You may have lost your love but that doesn't mean you can take it out on mine! _Emmett snapped sharply into my mind.

"She wanted her dead," I snarled back at him, responding to his thoughts. "This was the whole purpose for her. She deserves to die!" I threw Emmett off me and took another lunge at Rosalie's body.

However, a newer, hotter object smacked into me, throwing my entire body against the wall.

Jacob had thrown himself at me. He was protecting Rosalie. I stared at him in shock.

_Don't you dare hurt Renesmee. _He thought, speaking as an Alpha. This made my expression go into complete disgust and shock. How could Jacob want to keep alive the thing that killed Bella? It was strange.

"Why?" I started, completely curious but still angry with Rosalie who had her entire body wrapped around Renesmee, completely protecting her. I flickered my eyes between the bundle of hate in Rosalie's arms and Jacob's harsh expression.

_Imprint._

At that point, I didn't care what that meant. But it was just horrid that he'd chosen my daughter to imprint on, even though the choice was involuntary.

"But she murdered Bella!" I shouted at him, unable to control the anger that raged inside of me.

_Just look at her. She's been asking for her responsible father. _Still in the Alpha voice, Jacob released his grip on me and the room relaxed a little, wondering the tension between Jacob and I. I heard a few low howls and growls from the outside walls. Jacob snapped his head to look out the window.

_Just kill him, already! He broke the treaty! Attack!_

_Please don't kill him, Jake. Come on, he didn't purposely break the treaty._

_Shut up, Seth!_

_Cool it, guys! I allowed him to bite her to try and save her as an Alpha._

_But he's created an abomination! A beast!_

_And I imprinted on that very abomination, Leah, so you hurt her and you'll be dead. Besides, you hurt Renesmee, that's going against the pack as well so no one attacks._

_Whoah! You imprinted on her?! Cool._

_Shut up, Seth!_

_I don't have to listen to you, Leah._

_I said cool it guys._

I knew Leah was right, as much as I'd hate to admit it. I should be murdered for creating an abomination called my daughter. But how much of an abomination was she?

I reached the edge of the couch and there she was, Rosalie cooing at her with a baby-like voice. And then her arms stretched out to me as I looked into her brown eyes. I saw the very memories of Bella, the love of my life. How could I ignore that little gesture when it reminded me so much of the broken, missing piece in my heart.

She was placed in my arms unwillingly. At that very moment, I could've strangled her easily, killed her in only mere seconds if she wasn't so much like me or so much like Bella. She touched her hand to my face and I saw it clearly; the screwed up image of Bella Cullen. How her face had been streaming with blood from her white eyes and how her pale skin shaped around each bruised bone, tight and defined. How her hair was matted with sweat and she was choking every bit of her blood to deliver Renesmee. Everything that Bella had gone through to have this baby, my baby.

Then there was a new view. I could see Renesmee's face nuzzled into Bella's skin; she was remembering the taste of Bella's blood. At the same moment, I hissed, growling at the beast that had murdered my wife.

Everyone was staring at me, including Renesmee. I couldn't kill her. She was my own daughter. She was the descendant of Bella Cullen and I could not destroy her now. That left me with choice number two.

I handed her back to Rosalie, Renesmee wondering why I'd abruptly ignored her. She cried out. I refused to hold her again. I stalked out the front door.

"Where are you going?" Esme wondered aloud on behalf of my entire family, staring at me curiously.

"Italy."


	4. Vampire

I searched through the times that the flights left for Italy, any part of Italy. I just had to get away from here. Or at least be where she was; I was forced by my own love to be suicidal. What were the odds? A suicidal vampire? I'd been the only one in centuries, and still the only one within the past year. Aro would know instantly what I was up to, though he'd try to sacrifice myself into his guard instead of just letting me die away like I'd wished, like she'd wished.

_She wouldn't want this, Edward. You know that._ Rosalie's thoughts had broken my epiphany towards Italy. How could that shallow, low-life blond still track me dangerously without wanting to be dead like myself?

"She begs for me to be with her," I explained her thoughts, turning only slightly to speak somewhat directly. She didn't need to know my doubts.

_Bella would not want you to give up your life and leave your daughter. _She swooned at the word daughter while my face twisted to disgust. Daughter. The monster—worse than myself—destroyed me. And I thought I was the most vile creature, the most destructive and cruel predator on the planet. I was now dropped to second in my thoughts.

"Why are you hear?" Knowing that she didn't really care to be here, I pressed the question anyway.

"Because you can't just leave your daughter out on the streets. She needs her father."

"And that was your plan all along wasn't it? To just have Bella dead so that you could claim that beast yourself!" I was raging as I noticed the few people staring at us, wondering the raucaus.

"I'm sorry that I thought that earlier." Her apology seemed little to what she owed me. "That was very insensitive of me and I'm sorry. Bella meant the world to you and all I caused was irritation and false-notes towards her, not even getting to know her that well, really, because I was jealous of her." She continued trying to amend her fault with words that meant little to me. All I could focus on was the beast.

Her smell was the mixed fragrance of Bella and mine. She stared at me with a smile, matching her brown eyes; Bella's brown eyes.

How could one ignore such a beauty? She looked like Bella—beauty and eyes and all—and she held the predatorism of a vampire, like myself.

Then she held a guilty look, as if she didn't mean any harm to Bella. And that I was too late to save her. It was the same look that Bella'd used after she'd seduced me on Isle Esme. That look, I'll never forget. I could never forget Bella's face no matter how much my mind told me to do so now, to move on. And here was Renesmee, a reminder to the heavens I once felt when I was with Bella.

If only I wasn't so careful with her; I could've experienced more of my ressurecting human and had enjoyed Bella all at once but because of what? Because I wanted her to stay human? Because I didn't want her to become the monster I was? I didn't even remember the reasons of why I held her back, demanding her patience in the alteration. I'd coveted Bella and I'd lost her; kind of like a bully beating up himself with the pain of the victim being felt anyway, no pain to the bully. It didn't make sense. I didn't have to hold her back, or make her wait, but because I'd thought I was too selfish and she thought I wasn't? When wasn't she right in my mind? When she said it didn't matter what I was, even if I wasn't human to her? When she'd made the choice to see Jacob without my concerns or orders, completely ignoring those I'd given and then me not being mad at her? When I'd deliberately agreed to try to make love to her and create an abomination called my daughter? She'd been right by being compassionate and selfless as she'd described me. She was everything she saw me as—without the speed, strength, coldness, and thirst. And of course without the attracting troubles of stalkers, sadistic vampires like James and Victoria, and, of course, the young, childish wolves that ran around protecting her just as much as I was. I owed Jacob a million lifetimes by this point.

And then I'd thought of his pain; what he'd lost and gained through these past few days. He'd given a service to protect not only Bella, but my family as well, while suffering seeing the monster murder her inside out. The pain that she'd inflicted on him trying to say goodbye so many times and then he'd ended up coming back, only to be hurt more than was previous. How he'd known that he'd lost to me because I'd been the noble one when his love could never be enough to be complete.

But now he had gained a new love and I gained more and more respect for him. I now refuse to call him an infant or pup or dog, not only because he is my son, but because he had given up so much for Bella that I'd never expected without appreciation and she'd wounded him so many countless times; over and over again, and he took it in silence—most of the time. However, Renesmee had completely filled that gap in his heart with imprintation—honestly, the strangest thing I've ever witnessed in my one hundred and ten years—but, he felt the need to protect his own love from me as I was Bella from him. It was an epic war neither of us would be victorious in. Now he was my son as much as his was my mortal enemy, and what we both had tried to keep alive and fight for had failed us both. However, I'd lost because he had Renesmee and I was left alone once more.

I grabbed my daughter from Rosalie's hands with a deep sigh. She was wary at first, handing me Renesmee, but I soothed her out. "Thank you, Rosalie, for everything you've done." Forgiveness is divine.

And I left the airport to head to my home.


	5. Charlie

As soon as I stepped in the doorway, a familiar smell hit me; not as harsh as the attack of Bella's smell the first time I laid eyes on her, her brown eyes. However, I knew it because of Bella. I'd known it much longer than Bella's but I'd gotten used to it because of her.

Charlie.

As I met with him once more, face to face, I couldn't even compose a lie quickly enough to understand his anguish at me and his sorrow for Bella. He must've known about her already, demanding to Carlisle to see her. He hadn't seen my face yet but I could clearly see his. And then he looked around the corner.

It was as if he knew I was actually there, in the present, just like Bella could seem as if she could see through me; most of the time that was true. With all of my luck, Charlie turned back to Carlisle with a small grunt of despair. He probably thought that this was all a joke; that I was Bella, waiting around the corner just to pop out and yell surprise right in to his embarrassed face. There were only two flaws with that concept. One, I could never be as clumsy and as accident-prone as Bella and there was no way she would be a monster like me; and two, Bella hated surprises and she knew Charlie did too so she would never agree to the plan even if she weren't gone. And then a hand nudged my shoulder. Reluctantly, I glanced down at Renesmee, who was begging for my attention.

It occurred to me that I needed an explanation for both Bella's death—hopefully Carlisle had already thought of one for me—and for Renesmee's appearance in my arms if I was going to confront Charlie.

But what would I say? There was too much of a resemblance between her and Bella, and he would know. However, I couldn't hide her from Charlie forever. She was family as much as he probably didn't want her to be.

And in the same glance she looked like me—physically, of course—and yet, also sadistic like me. Both vile, murderous creatures that shouldn't even be allowed to exist. And yet we did.

And then his smell came closer. Soon enough his face peered around the corner, meeting mine just as I was about to round the corner to greet him, trying to think of a lie. Now I was out of time.

"Edward?" He seemed surprised to see me.

_I told him you were grieving in your room over Bella's death from the South American disease. _Carlisle explained in his thoughts. I looked up at him and nodded slightly, thanking that he'd created one of the lies that I would've needed to use on Charlie.

"Carlisle said you were in your room." Charlie looked at me with suspicious eyes.

"Well, I figured that it's time to move on. Bella wouldn't have wanted me to spend all the rest of my life confined in a crammed room and so I'll fulfill that wish in honor of her love," I explained through my teeth, trying to keep away the anger and sorrow that I could've killed Charlie with. Carlisle noticed the destructive look on my pale face.

_Tell him about Renesmee, Edward. It will calm you down._

"Move on? Like, forget her?" Such a stupid human—though, I would never tell Bella that. Charlie's more clueless than he is stupid.

"No!" I protested. "I could never forget Bella. Never."

"Oh, sorry. Um…" He turned away with a grimace, looking at the creature in my hands. Curiosity then spread over his grim look. "Who's this?"

"This? This is Renesmee."

"What is she to you?" There was a bit of a snarl, obviously upset that I couldn't protect Bella from her death like I'd promised that night I'd married her.

"She's my niece."

"I thought all your family was dead."

"My parents are. My brother, adopted like myself, married and had Renesmee. However, they contacted me after my brother and his wife had died in a car accident." That was a good lie. Related to me.

"She's got the same eyes as Bella."

"I know." I paused, looking down into Bella's—er, Renesmee's eyes. "It pains me to look at them."

Then Renesmee touched my face.

"She seems to like you."

But I wasn't paying attention to Charlie's comment. No, I was imaging how thirsty Renesmee was for Bella's blood. I shuddered in my mind.

Then it occurred to me, if Renesmee was addicted to Bella's human blood, wouldn't she be addicted to Charlie's too? Or any human blood? She wouldn't be allowed to bite him.

"Can I hold her?" Charlie asked, sounding annoyed. He must've asked more than once. Carlisle stared at me in shock, knowing what I was thinking. And he wasn't a mind reader.

"No." I said sternly.

"Why not?" he protested, even more annoyed than before.

Jacob, who'd been lounging over the couch, finally moved. He gave me a stern look, knowing, even faster than Carlisle could figure it out, what was the problem.

"Because I have to feed her," he said, standing behind Charlie now with his arms out, waiting for Renesmee to be placed in them.

"Can I feed her?"

"Nope. She'll only feed from me or Rosalie. Sorry." Charlie could tell the joking tone in Jacob's voice but Carlisle and I knew that it really was for Renesmee's own safety against Charlie.

Reluctantly, I placed Renesmee in Jacob's arms, fire and ice touching each other in an instant.

And in that same second, Charlie unexpectedly brushed her hair. And then it'd all happen so immediately.

Jacob pulled Renesmee closer to him, taking five steps backwards against the base of the stairs, Carlisle and I crouched in front of Charlie, hissing at Renesmee who had the wicked smile across her face. She was worse than James.

Charlie had his jaw popped open. "What the hell is going on here?"


	6. Happiness

There was utter silence in the room as Carlisle were standing up straight, backs to Renesmee and Jacob, facing Charlie's concerned face.

"Will someone _please_ tell me what's going on?" he

screamed again, furious.

_Should we tell him? _Carlisle glanced at me with a curious, unsure expression; for once, not knowing what to do.

"Yes, we should," I answered aloud. "Tell you."

"Charlie, this is something you absolutely need to know; however, the public story depends on all of our lives."

"Charlie, we're vampires." I heard Jacob make a disgusting sound at the name.

He scampered five steps back, now afraid of his own life.

"You're what?"

"Vampires."

"So you suck blood?"

"Not human blood. Animal blood," Carlisle explained. "It's easier for us to live in a civilized way instead of murderous ways."

"And how do you fit into all of this, Jake?" He stared at the monstrous boy that was holding the pale girl.

"I'm a werewolf. I've fallen in love, literally, with Renesmee and it's my job to make sure she's happy and protect her, just like them," he explained calmly.

"So with all last June and March last year, that was you?"

"Me and the pack, yeah."

_This is so very strange. I must be dreaming. Edward? A vampire? And dating Bella? He probably just had to bite her and kill her. And then Jake? No wonder he's so big! It's all so real. I've got to be sleeping._

"You're not sleeping, Charlie," I answered, gesturing one step towards him.

"How did you know—?"

"I'm a mind-reader, as well. Some vampires have extra talents." He took three steps back, scared for his own life. Obviously all this information would be overwhelming. "Like Alice, she can see only subjective images of the future. And Jasper, he controls emotions." Renesmee wailed; I forgot about her since she was so quiet. "And Renesmee,

well, she shows people images she wants them to see with one touch."

"So, Renesmee? Is she a vampire like you?" he asked

solemnly, still shocked and curious of all the supernatural that was occurring.

"Um, no. She's half-human," I explained calmly, trying not to explode from the fury of having to tell him, or the embarrassment from telling him about our family. Technically I could be killed by the Volturi for spilling the "secret" of our existence, but I'd promised either Bella's eternal life or her complete death; however, that'd already happened.

"Half-human?" His gaze changed from shock to awe as he glowered over Renesmee, whom was now placed in my arms, peering out of my arms to face him. "So why can't I hold her if she's half-human?" he wondered, reaching out for Renesmee once more.

"You can't because she sucks blood. That's how Bella really died, because there was so much blood loss from her delivery and then Renesmee sucked the lasts of her life." Jacob, who barely spoke in his Alpha-voice, was now trembling from his slight shame. I couldn't even tell his expression as well as his thoughts; ones he'd tried so hard to hide from me.

They were reruns of his fantasies, except not exactly. Instead of Bella it was Renesmee. In a twisted way, I could see his happiness—er, the happiness he placed in his fantasies. But he stopped at one fantasy that had been the most troublesome.

The campfire scene swarmed in my mind. There was laughter and smiling faces. There was Carlisle, Emmett, Rosalie, Renesmee, Charlie, Billy, Jasper, Alice, Jared, Kim, Emily, Paul, Brady, Collin, Quil, Embry, Seth, Leah, and even a happy Sam. Everything and everyone was happy. There was no distinction between mortal enemies; the alliance was tighter than ever. All the supernatural fighting non-sense was over. Everything was at peace.

But that wasn't what had caught my mental attention in the first place. There were two of them in that scene that differed. They acted as if best friends.

One was way paler than the other, almost like a wintry blanket across a human male body. His tousled red-ish, brown hair and his dark, bruised eyes were covered with happiness. The fire seemed to radiate against his skin, leaving a shimmer of different, combined colors. He was scarred with beauty, none that any female could ever really resist. Those golden eyes could hook any bit of his prey on women and he could easily seduce him. However, it was easy for someone like me to tell the predator behind the mask; not much of one. He was a monster who didn't want to be, thrust into this mysterious life of him without warning, left with no choice but to try and hide what he was, trying to be what he wasn't meant to be.

The other, however, was contradictory to the pale creature. He held a darker tone in his skin with sharp contours of his muscles everywhere. He towered over the pale man, but was evenly fierce. His eyes were soft, staring across the campsite, but they still held a destructive look. His hair long and black, furry to seem. The fire allied with his skin, showing the dark-bronze touch against his marked shoulder, similar to some of the men surrounding him. He was more of a loner than a groupie; some sort of leadership rang through his sight with every move but he still held his own way, going against the grain. He wasn't as much of a predator, more like a protector. He, too, didn't exactly want to be what he was; but, again, obligated to his own existence.

The pale man was glued to the side of the bronze man, who had his arm wrapped around the shoulders of the pale man. There was a connection between the two that rang deeper than best friends could ever go. Like centuries of companionship and comradeship. Like two magnets attracting together, brought into their own unwanted worlds by force. Like fire and ice, hot and cold, summer and winter, dark and light; love and hatred filled both.

Jacob had wanted peace between us.

But why?

"I should get back to the station." Charlie's voice interrupted both the fantasy and my questions.

"Yes, you should," Carlisle answered calmly.

Still glaring at Jacob, I bid Charlie goodbye, promising that he could see Renesmee when she was well trained.

"See yah, Jake."

Jacob didn't answer. He was still trembling, trying to control his fantasy away from my mind but couldn't. His dark eyes slowly lifted up to mine as he gripped the staircase railing.

"Why?" I asked him, Charlie just disappearing down the driveway in his cruiser.

_Because you're family and we've both suffered._


	7. The Wind

I handed Renesmee to Jacob, wondering what I would do next. It got immensly boring when one didn't have anyone else to look after 24/7. Or when you didn't live in a town where nothing fun really ever happened.

Then someone's thoughts appeared at the end of the long driveway of ours. I decided to listen because there was nothing better to do.

_Wonder what fancy letters the Cullens' got today, if any. Surprised anyone would ever send them letters. I mean, they're total freaks; never talk to anyone, keep to themselves. Wonder if the McGonagle's got something new too. Dan's always got something sent to him. Wonder if Esme's home. Maybe I could stop in. Nah. That Emmett kid of hers is huge, and Jasper's wildness creeps me out. No man! She's got a husband! A doctor for a husband and 4.0 GPAs for all of her kids. Great life._

Of course it was the mailman, who has been hitting and thinking about Esme. Who else? No one was really suspicious of us as much as Bella or any of the wolves had been. Well, the wolves already knew and Bella was so unconscious of my presence that my uniqueness had attracted her subconsciously; her blood dragging me in that magnetic force between us.

As soon as the mailman, Esme's admireror, left to head to the other mailstops on the next street, I headed out to get the fancy letter he had just dropped off.

Curiousity had overcame me as I ran—obviously at lightning speed—to the end of the driveway. Who would get a letter? No one usually does because we're such quote-on-quote, "freaks." Of course, I couldn't blame anyone for not sending us letters since hardly anyone really knew us. It was a good thing they didn't.

"_Yeah, 'cause Cullen's a freak." _Many of Mike's insulting thoughts had scampered into my mind, replaying over and over again like a broken record. Then those he had about Bella came spinning in like a violent tornado, attacking every cut of my deep, broken, dead heart. Like hornets stinging the enemy. Like watching James bite Bella over and over again on VHS. Like hearing her heart beat stop for eternity.

If I were human, I would be in tears, both sad and angry. I'd have a tormented, disturbed, hurt expression on my face for as long as my heart was ripped open.

I stopped in my tracks as soon as I had reached my destination. When I'd opened my eyes, I'd expected to see the mailbox right in front of me, with cars passing by at the slowest rate possible. But there was no mailbox, no road.

All I saw around me were trees surrounding a large clearing filled with nothing but dead grass and plants. The colors were a defined amber and forest green, involved with other tints of green, red, and brown. And in the middle I saw the most beautiful thing in my life.

There she was, standing in a white gown that flowed in the breeze, her hair parallel to it. I could taste her sweet smell, my jaws aching from thirst; I wasn't thirsty for her as my heart was.

Her hands gestured to me. "Come here, Edward." Her smile was dazzling, a pearl white glow. I couldn't fathom any words. All I could do was slowly walk towards her, speechless.

I could mesmerize her features anywhere. From the tips of her toes to the edge of each strand of her hair. Her lips were pure red, similar to blood. The dress marked every contour of her sexy body; her legs thin and smooth. Her arms were weak-looking but she seemed strong. Her neck was as tempting as it used to be, her smell intoxicating me. I couldn't think straight. Her smile, sending warm chills down my spine from their perfection; just as she was. Her brown eyes held me in the same position as ever. Staring, gazing, awing, and deep. I could hear her heart.

"Come closer." Her voice rang like a morningale's song in my ears.

"Closer," she whispered softly in my ears.

I could feel her lips on mine, just itching and begging for the ability to graze her skin; her beautiful, pale, white skin. I pulled myself closer as to touch her lips to mine.

"I love you, Edward." As our lips met, she disappeared. A ghostly image whisking away in the wind. Her whispers distant voices in the wind, racing to the edge of the trees until there was no sound. My hand grasped only air; my lips left alone.

Cold air filled all around me. Not her warmth. The memoirs of us together swarmed my mind, digging and cutting my heart deeper than ever. She seemed so real, so alive.

"Now you know what I've been through." A deep voice appeared from behind me.

"I've always known after two days ago." Still uneven from Bella's image, I answered with tension.

"It's hard isn't it?"

"Why peace between us?" I asked, ignoring his previous question.

"I told you why."

"But it still makes no sense."

"I know. I just randomly came up with the epiphany after imaging her. My guess is that you're grieving and hurting because you just saw her."

I nodded, unable to answer in full words.

"And because it's what she would've wanted. Peace. I believe she said to me last year, 'I am Switzerland' and something along the lines of, 'I am a Virgo,' but it still hurts to remember." He held sorrow in his strong voice, one not so strong.

"Now I know what you're talking about."

"Yeah."

There was a long, silent, peaceful pause between us as we shared the same painful thoughts of Bella.

"But why the campfire?"

"I don't know. 'Guess it's 'cause it's dark and it's when we can interact without any tensions." His voice became unsteady as he talked of settled peace.

"I wish I could talk to her."

"So do I." And there the sympathy ended.

I finally reached the mailbox, the real destination that I wanted.

I pulled out the fancy, white lace letter.

_I look forward to meeting the new Mrs. Cullen._

"Aro."


	8. All Is Well

I stepped back into the door, cautious of the lace letter that was in my hand, now weighing enough to the point where even an abnormally strong vampire like myself would be bruised. Everyone surrounded me with wary eyes.

"Why?" Carlisle asked aloud.

"To see the new Mrs. Cullen." I had quoted the letter almost perfectly.

"But shouldn't they know?"

"Apparently not."

"It just doesn't make any sense."

Alice, who'd been curled up on the edge of the couch, behind Emmett's ginormous body, finally stood up.

"They're moving slowly. They don't have very big intentions to come here immediately so that gives us some time," she explained.

"Time for what?" What would we need to hide from them?

"Time to hide Renesmee, duh." Rosalie cooed at the child as Jacob was eyeing her with fiercness. I couldn't blame him.

"Why would we need to hide her?" he finally spoke.

"Because the Volturi are coming." Rosalie moved her lips with oh so smooth gestures to Renesmee.

"Are those the leeches that you went to to commit suicide, like, what? A year and a half ago?" Jacob took a step forward as Renesmee reached for him, wanting to be held by him. Reluctantly, and with disgust, Rosalie handed over Renesmee, Jacob almost gagging when the enemies touched.

"At least I can handle being around a vicious beast," she snapped.

"Renesmee is not a viciouss beast!" Jacob flinched into a protectiv stance where half his body was towering over Renesmee, blocking her view from the rest of us.

"I wasn't talking about the child."

"Enough!" I finally said, sick of their bickering and bantering. It wasn't a good time to fight when Renesmee's life was on the line. "And, yes, their the same vampires."

"So you're going to let them come here?! Why not just hide her with me? I mean, she'll be safe in La Push because of me and my scent will disgust them so they won't even come near us." Jacob caressed Renesmee's cheek as she moaned for his attention, unable to understand what was going on. "Yes, we're talking about you."

"We can't have her in La Push." I stood next to Jacob, his heat radiating on me as we both tried to decide where Renesmee should stay.

"Why not?"

"Because Caius dispises and has annihilated every werewolf in the world. That's why you don't see many; therefore, he will immediately come after you and find her." Renesmee wailed again.

"Actually, the wolves that Caius had tracked down only morphed when it was a full moon. Jacob could shift now. So that would make him a shape-shifter, not a werewolf." Jacob cocked his head to the side.

_What the hell? _I glared at him, wondering the same thing.

"So he wouldn't go after Jacob or the pack."

"Yeah, but Caius doesn't know that," Alice mentioned, backing up my statement.

"True."

There was a silence as everyone tried to think of where to hide Renesmee.

"With the Denalis?" Jasper thought out loud.

"No, but you may be on to something." It took me a while to get out the full plan in my head but it finally entered. "What if Jacob and Jasper and Alice took Renesmee somewhere where the Volturi would never think to look. We can lie saying that Jasper and Alice went up to visit the Denalis and the Volturi have no idea about Jacob—though, you should probably warn your pack about the immediate intrusions—and then all is well. We tell them that Bella died because I couldn't do it right and then all is well.

_Bella, may she rest in peace. _Jacob's thoughts were loud and clear as were the memoirs running through his head.

"Please, Jacob?" I held up my hand, turning my head away from his huge body.

"Sorry," he mumbled, leaning back against the wall. Renesmee gently touched his face, his expression turning to disgust. "She's hungry."

"Then let's hunt. To be honest, I can barely keep my strength right now."

The two of us headed out the back door, Jacob handing Renesmee to me so he had the chance to phase.

They talked, well Jacob did, to Renesmee about catching the biggest prey. They always had fun this way.

It was hard to believe that one of my best frenemies would become my son-in-law one day. Even if I never died and neither did she. Would it be possible for them to have children? A half-werewolf, quarter-vampire, and a quarter-human? Totally one of a kind. A whole new species. Like the world needs anymore.

_The Cullens' house should be right around here. Bet Edward can hear me now. Edward? Can you hear me? _A small, ringing voice sounded in my head. At first I thought it was a delusion, but then a white, solid ghost appeared on the small cliff only a few miles away from me, standing in the glistening sunlight.

"Irina."

"Edward!" She recognized me. I could hear Renesmee's and Jacob's loud laughter in the distance, the other direction. Irina was startled by Jacob's laughter, pausing and searching around for danger. Her head turned every which way until it landed in their direction. Then her expression grew to shock.

_Oh no!_

After that she raced until I could no longer hear her, maybe even farther. My instant reflexes grew over for protection. It didn't take Jacob long to pop through the small clearing with Renesmee on his back, ripping many growls out of his throat, baring his teeth to the open space, warding off all danger. There was none. He looked up at me finally, ready to jump and leap and kill if the danger had attacked.

_What, man?! What?!_

"Irina. She was the almost-mate of Laurent. The black vampire that you'd killed to save Bella—very much thanks and gratitude—and now she's grieving, I think." He had slightly settled and calmed as I carefully explained the situation to him.

_Where is she now?_

"Too far for me to hear. She must be heading home."

_Why?_

"She must've saw you and either feared her own life or entered new, deeper emotions for Laurent. Strange love of theirs."

Then my phone buzzed. I instantly answered it.

"Alice? What is it? Anything new?"

"Edward! Something has triggered their decision to come here faster. And it's not about Bella!" I flipped down the phone, hanging up with my mouth wide open.

I looked into her brown eyes, wondering if we could ever find safety for her in time. "Daddy?" I was shocked that she knew the word. "What is wrong?" She was speaking straight, full sentences now. Jacob's ears perked up at the noise but I was too in shock. Then, as Renesmee walked along the grass to me, he switched between her dear face and my horrored expression. More ripped growls came out now, but to nothing he knew of.

We raced home, Jacob not even bothering to ask what was wrong because he knew that it involved Renesmee as well as the rest of us.

"What could've triggered it?" I demanded an answer, a possible reason, out of anyone that could give it. Handing Renesmee over to Rosalie, I searched through the vision that Alice was able to see.

She saw them on top of their throwns. And then with immediate action, they fled to the airport, trampled through the woods and met us face to face. But a figure was unsure. There had to be some sort of clue.

And then, as I looked over the vision again and again, I saw it. Just in the beginning, a white figure had gone to their throwns to speak to them as a witness of a crime we'd committed. Irina.

"Irina was out there today."

"She was?" Carlisle now looked more interested and curious in the situation.

"I thought she saw Jacob but I was wrong. She heard Jacob, but saw Renesmee."

Jasper only spoke one line that made my whole body freeze—no pun intended. "An immortal child." With those words, I knew all was not well.


	9. Time and Truth

I paced around the room frantically, everyone wondering what I was thinking. This was impossible, preposterous! There was no way that Irina would've even seen Renesmee so far away to know that she was only half-immortal. Alice's vision had to have been wrong.

But Alice's visions were subjective to those who traveled on it. So it had to be true. Because it wasn't one of our ideas, our plans. It was the Volturi's and it was Irina's idea to turn us in, not realizing the consequences of the truth, not knowing that she should've come to us first.

I just shook my head, trying to rearrange all of this mess.

"Just tell it out, bloodsucker!" Jacob's impatience was not very tolerable; however, Renesmee wanted him here just the same.

"Just let me think!" Screeching back, the whole room erupted into an uncomfortable tension, Jacob immediately standing on his hind legs—or his two human legs—ripping small growls through his chest as if ready to pounce. I never moved a muscle, knowing he'd never destroy me for Renesmee's sake.

My mind reaching back to the troublesome situation, I'd pieced it all together. There was only one way out and we needed a plan, one that could hopefully save Renesmee and Jacob and maybe the rest of my family. My mind scrambled as I searched and tried to come up with a plan that could possibly save a few of us. I was limited with ideas.

In the background, Alice was grumbling and arguing with Jasper over safety plans for just the two of them. Jasper ranting on how he'd be able to fight, obviously wanting Alice to stay out of the fight if it comes to be one, that way he doesn't lose her; however, Alice would object because Jasper and the rest of us aren't likely to win, therefore, she'd lose him for eternity. Their bond was slightly incredible, unlike the bond I had to Bella.

_If only he would listen to me! _I ignored Alice's thought for only a millisecond

And then it came to me. If only the Volturi could just listen, listen to what I had to explain, proving the crime wrong and completely unjust towards the punishment. But how would we get them to listen?

I explained the thought out plan to my family, all agreeing it was the best, safest way. Jacob was obviously involved since the whole charade was about Renesmee. This meant the pack would join us which would give us some of their hesitation.

"We could ask our friends." Emmett looked over his giant shoulder from the sofa and turned to the table where all the rest of us conferenced.

"I'm already joining, you don't need to ask." Jacob was still a little irritated as he kept in most of his control and his thoughts.

"Not you, our vampire friends."

"They don't need to die, too, Emmett. You know I would never allow that," Carlisle said in a calm voice, one that was very concerned at the same time.

"I know that, Carlisle. I'm not saying they should be sentenced to death. The Volturi have their show of witnesses and we'll have ours. They'll just observe and watch, which might cause the Volturi to hesitate long enough for us to explain, of course with the addition of the wolves. It's all we can ask of them; we'd do it for them." Everyone looked around with a slight smile. Emmett's suggestion might work for us. But we'd have to have a great show of witnesses in order to make the Volturi hesitate.

"That's a brilliant idea, Emmett," Esme commented from across the table, only whispering.

"We'll have to gather everyone we know," Carlisle thought to himself, out loud of course.

Then another vision slapped across my mind, but only glimpses of it. My head snapped towards Alice, only to see her face mystified by her sketchy vision.

"We'll have to show them very carefully. Edward and Jacob can do that. The rest of us will split up. Rose and Emmett will cover the Americas. Esme and I will cover Europe and Asia. And Jasper and Alice can cover Africa and Japan. We'll need the Denalis, Siobhan's coven, Amun's. Maybe some of the nomads—definitely Garrett and Mary. Alistair possibly. Maybe Peter and Charlotte. The Amazons. Kachiri, Zafrina, and Senna. Everybody." Carlisle went on with the plans of splitting up while I paid close attention to Alice.

It came around again. It was wintry and cold outside. A storm coming? But why would she be paying attention to the weather? Then I saw them again, just as they were in her vision earlier. Standing across from us, armed and weaponed. Aro was talking to someone, trying to make an agreement I suppose. The only thing that stunned me was that the whole other half of the field where we would be standing was blurry. Were the wolves coming out of the field ready for attack? No, they'd be dead by then. Unless that's what Aro's negotiating with the other vampire, the lives of the wolves. But then four more blurry figures came out of the side of the woods. But who? Then it all went away.

Another vision came along in my mind, still staring intently at Alice to see her next move. Jungle trees were whistling past. Then we opened up to a clearing, one filled with little huts, a small village. Then we were racing back through the jungle to a different village. Scrambling, we ran through about ten or eleven villages before it all cut off. Most of the figures were annoyingly blurry again, except for Alice, Jasper, and Kachiri. Why weren't Zafrina and Senna necessary in this fight? Was it because they didn't want to come? To help? It would be reasonable. But what was with the different huts? Returning to the jungle, the vision cut off completely.

"What was that? That part in the jungle? Are we going to look for Zafrina and Senna?" My expression was easily cautious as Alice's was still confused and immensely trying to retrace the vision that was a mystery.

"I can't see. We'll have to split up and hurry—before the snow sticks to the ground. We have to round whomever we can and get them here to show them. Ask Eleazar. There is more to this than just an immortal child." She zoned out again, her eyes appearing opaque as she searched for the Swiss-like vision.

The vision came around again but at a faster pace.

"Alice. That was too fast—I didn't understand. What was—?"

"I can't see!" She literally exploded, slightly crouching as she grabbed Jasper's arm and quickly skipped out the back door. "I'll see better away from both Jacob and Renesmee, anyway. I need to go. I need to really concentrate. I need to see every thing I can. I have to go. There's no time to waste!"

There was a sliver of dusk left in the sky as the moon over shadowed the starry night and covered Alice's pathway, leaving her left in the misty darkness.

"Hurry!" Alice's high-pitched voice appeared in the night as she raced off with Jasper. "You have to find them all!"

Silence hit us all. The tension in the room increased. Even Renesmee, plastered with a mask of horror, was quiet, hanging her arms around Jacob's neck as he held her.

It seemed like a decade had gone by, all of us statues. But, of course, time seems to pass by a lot slower when you're a sadistic, troublesome, terrified vampire. But the end of the month seemed to appear out of nowhere. It was coming. This was the very end of the century—give or take a decade—that I'd lived eternity with. And I really didn't care that I was going to die. I would die and be in Heaven with Bella. Right now, Hell was the worst place to be on the face of the world.

And I'd seen the world. I'd seen all of the places, every single square foot I'd traced only by pure accident. I'd seen its changes since 1801. How the human race had barely survived the Spanish Influenza and multiple other chaotic events. In my book, we were about to encounter the most dangerous, most chaotic event in the vampire world yet. This would be Hell's greatest fight ever.

Carlisle was the first to speak, breaking the grave silence that overpowered the rest of the room for that hour. "Well, we should follow Alice's orders. Edward, you and Jacob stay here to greet our guests and show them. The rest of us will send as many of them as we can find. Your job may be harder than the rest of ours."

I'd grasped the facts that Carlisle was saying. I had to present Renesmee to our friends with intense precautions and carefulness. Getting them to let her _show _them her side of the tale was going to be just as difficult as getting them to understand that she was not an immortal child, just a half-human half-immortal creature.

They left abruptly, leaving Jacob, Renesmee, and I here alone. Silence wasn't as overpowering apart from Jacob's and Renesmee's beating hearts and his heavy panting. The whistling wind of the storm to come was easily building up miles away. The briskness of the cold slashed the trees and the windows, shaking the whole house with its attack. Foot patterns scaped the outside of the house, adding two more panting dogs that did us a great service and still are. The television clicked on from Jacob's boredom, though he was clearly watching Renesmee's every action, that way she could stay out of trouble.

"_The murderous rampage has ended. Apparently the serial killer has stopped his or her killings for the time being. Police are still keeping an eye on the attacks, trying to figure out the culprit. The serial killer may be ready to take action at anytime again, like a time bomb waiting to explode. Though the killings have stopped, the serial killer is out there, no suspects. The police hope to find him with all the news they've got. It's like one enormous puzzle with all pieces missing. I'm Sid Sawyer, and this is Portland News."_

And Sid was right. This was all one big puzzle, though we had some of the pieces. The blurry visions, the reason, the plan, the time, the place. All we needed to fit in was the full visions and the outcome.

"These vampires,"—Jacob got off the couch and walked towards the window, standing a little bit behind me, standing in an awkward position—"they're—."

"They drink human blood," I answered flatly, turning towards his scorching, huge body.

"Then why are we having her around them? She could get killed!" he screeched silently, trying not to disturb Renesmee's playfulness. Sadly, that didn't work.

She came running around the side of the couch, pouncing into my arms. Jacob stroked her hair as she buried her face into my shoulder.

"Because she's the only thing that can give us proof for even the witnesses. Without the witnesses we all die, including her. It's a risk we have to take, Jacob." He huffed at my answer, walking back to the couch, lounging across it to watch the news.

Then Renesmee pulled away from me. I was ready to set her back down, figuring that was what she wanted, but she looked at me. Her brown eyes were watered, as if ready to streak her rosy cheeks with tears. Small sobs burst out of her mouth, her pink lips trembling. I could see that the salty water was about to spill. Jacob was over here in an instant, knowing and feeling her sadness.

"This is all my fault." The tears coming out much faster now.

"No!" Jacob and I protested in perfect synchronization. There was no way that this was her fault.

"It's your dad's fault," Jacob added, giving me a I-still-might-kill-you-for-killing-Bella look.

"Daddy?" The words rang through my ears. She was learning impeccably and incredibly, but it'd shocked me by those words. No one had ever called me daddy. Then again, I was only a dad to her.

I held on to her tighter, Jacob growing a bit intense from my grip on her. My eyes flashed to him only for a few milliseconds, telling him I would never hurt her. But it couldn't have been much of a warning because I said the same thing about Bella and I killed her, too.

"Where's Mommy?" The question set off a million disturbances. This time, Jacob watched me, curious as to what lie I would come up with.

_Should we tell her the truth?_

I nodded my head. We needed to tell her the truth. She couldn't live eternity or the rest of her life—which ever one was true—knowing that her mother, the love of my life, could still be in existence.

"Renesmee, Mommy's gone." It was the easiest, least painful explanation I could give her.

"Gone where?" she continued, pressing my sadness to a level that's been unreached.

"To heaven. She's dead."

Tears overflowed her face now. I pulled her in to a tight hug. Her sadness hurt me and my heart. I could now see Jacob's point of view on keeping her happy.

A small tear shed Jacob's face as he turned away. His pride wouldn't let Renesmee see him sad as well.

Then she turned to him. "Did you know Mommy?"

I knew that this question would be hard for him. The truth always hurt, no matter what part of existence you lived in.

"She was my best friend." Her hands reached out for him, that way they could grieve together. He handled her gently but kept her close to his heart.

I sighed, relief in my heart filled with sadness caused millions of memories to swarm into my mind, just like they did every night. I walked slowly outside, just on a randomly made path that would have Bella curious to follow.

After following the trail, mindlessly thinking about Bella, I came upon a little house, a cottage I suppose. It was built out of wood but was too large and a bit out of proportion to be a cottage. The smell was wonderful. I immediately knew what it was once I took a whiff of the surrounding air. This was the present from the rest of the family to Bella and I for her birthday that was…today.

Today was Bella's nineteenth birthday. I walked into the house-cottage building and took in the eroma. Bella would've loved it.

I searched around, realizing and notifying the different rooms in the building. The first one was the bedroom, then the living room, then a smaller, unfinished bedroom, and the last one was through a pair of double doors. As I walked in, I was shocked by the millions of articles of clothing that were hanging from a lot of racks around the room. "Alice," I grumbled as I exited the room that made the house disproportional.

On a nearby table, there was a picture in a chrome frame. The picture held a beautiful pair. One incredible gail that I was irrevocably in love with, and the other man was me. My paleness was in line with her translucent skin, her hair contrasting mine. Her white gown was as long as she, the hems pooling at the floor. Her makeup made her look even more beautiful, though it covered up the true beauty that I loved. She looked selfless and innocent in the picture as my hard hands were settled on her shoulders.

Compared to her, I seemed expressionless, a graveyard with only one tombstone. Ironically, I was as pale as a ghost. But on the inside I was happy. It lit up in her smile and in my movements around her. She was mine forever, and she always will be.


	10. Denali

I could hear the tires of a black Saab '93 rolling up the long driveway, gravel flying from the speed of the car as it raced against unknown time to get to the house.

"What could be going on?" I could hear one perky female question the rest in the car.

"I don't know, Tanya. Something must be wrong with one of them; Carlisle, perhaps." A male voice now entered the discussion.

"But that's not what Rosalie mentioned, Eleazar. She said, 'This is a great deal to my family, for you to support us. We're all in trouble,' and it doesn't make any sense for all of them to be in trouble if something is wrong with just Carlisle," another female mentioned. The nails of the driver dug into the leather of the wheel, her solid foot stomping on the peddle for the vehicle to move faster.

"Time to prepare." Jacob gave me a _you're nuts _look. "We need to do this right. I am aware of the risk, but need not worry about this first group; they're the only coven that doesn't drink human blood like we do." Without a comment, Jacob carried Renesmee into the dining room to sit at the polished table while I waited anxiously—and nervously—for the Denalis to come up the steps and enter the house. I didn't really enjoy playing host. It reminded me of the graduation party we had where Bella played host for our house. I shuddered.

Four small doors creaked open and closed shut. No one spoke but their thoughts were screaming with one main question.

_What is going on? _Confusion was in the air outside the front door. I opened it before they could even raise their hands to knock on it.

"Edward!" a strawberry blond female enthused, greeting me with a big huge.

"Hello, Tanya. Kate, Eleazar, Carmen."

Three murmured hellos.

"Rosalie said your family was in urgency of our help, and that you needed to talk to us right away," the first, high-pitched voice mentioned, a voice from Tanya. Tanya was a tall, feministic vampire. She was very outgoing and outspoken, a true leader. Not as fashionable as Alice could be, but loved to wear high heels that made her even taller. "What's the problem? Trouble with the werewolves?" A smirk smeared across Tanya's face, wanting annihilation of the wolves.

I heard Jacob huff in the other room; I assumed he rolled his eyes as well.

"No," I began to reply. "Our truce with the werewolves is stronger than ever."

The other blond, Kate, chuckled a bit. Kate on the other hand, was much different than Tanya. Though sharing similar physical aspects, Kate didn't enjoy wearing stand-out-ish clothes like Tanya; however, Kate was more of a tomboy and loved to show her skills against any guy. She, like Tanya, is a brave female.

"Aren't you going to invite us in?" Tanya asked. "Where's Carlisle?" Obviously curious about Carlisle's state as the other three were.

"Carlisle had to leave."

There was a short silence.

"What's going on, Edward?" Tanya demanded.

How could I explain this carefully? The Denalis were going to be the toughest group because they'd seen their mother be burned alive because she had created an immortal child, the mother of Irina, the reason we were in trouble. Who knows how they'd act. Would they side with their sister? Or would they side with us?

"If you could give me the benefit of the doubt for just a few minutes." It was all I needed for them to listen. "I have something difficult to explain, and I'll need you to be open-minded until you understand."

"Is Carlisle all right?" the male voice, Eleazar, questioned. Eleazar had dark, maroon hair, slick and cut short. He was just as tall as Kate but more sophisticated because of his spectacles. His clothes were in the decade, but uptight and thin.

"None of us is all right, Eleazar." I patted his shoulder to help move along the mood. It would be easier for them to understand with my compassion and understanding about this whole situation. "But physically, Carlisle is fine."

"Physically? My, what ever do you mean?" Tanya asked sharply.

"I mean that my entire family is in very grave danger. But before I explain, I ask for your promise. Listen to every thing I say before you react. I am begging you to hear me out."

There was a long silence as the Denalis waited for my hearing. Even Jacob and Renesmee were wordless in the other room.

The silence compelled Tanya's voice, for she was the first to speak again.

"We're listening. We will hear it all before we judge."

"Thank you, Tanya," I said fervently. "We wouldn't involve you in this if we had any other choice."

They walked through the door once I stepped back; they sniffed the air, scrunching up their noses at the stench.

"I knew those werewolves were involved somehow," Tanya muttered. I could hear Jacob softly snarl in reaction to the comment from the dining room.

"Yes, and their on our side. Again." The reminder silenced both Tanya and Jacob, Tanya with a frown and—only assumed—Jacob with a smirk of pride and joy of the victory, though a depressed one for the fight with me and Seth when he was hurt.

Finally Carmen spoke. "Where's your Bella? How is she?"

The same question as earlier stung me, like hornets again and again and again.

"She did not make it," I spoke in response, a mute noise but still slightly audible.

Silence became present again as we all took in what ever memories of Bella we had, including Jacob and Renesmee.

"Tell us about the danger, Edward. We'll listen, and we'll be on your side, where we belong." She tried to distract my mind; it worked for now.

I sucked in a deep breath that wasn't really needed, my nose aching from Jacob's stench. Somehow, I moved on, though small amounts of venom flowed to my teeth. I was sure that my eyes were black as coal by now. I hadn't fed in a few days and I was getting thirsty.

"I'd like you to witness for yourselves first. Listen—in the other room. What do you hear?"

Carmen moved to stand on her other foot, closer to the room to get a better listen. Tanya, taking a step forward, started to head into the room instead of listening.

"Just listen first, please," I said.

"A werewolf, I assume. I can hear his heart," Tanya stated, turning her ears back to me.

"What else?" I pressed, knowing that she'd only guessed half right.

There was a pause as the four of them listened more closely.

"What is that thrumming?" Kate asked, now just as curious as Tanya. "Is that some kind of a bird?"

"No, but remember what you're hearing. Now, what do you smell? Besides the werewolf."

"Is there a human here?" Eleazar whispered.

"No," Tanya disagreed. I smiled, knowing that she was on the right track. "It's not human…but…closer to human than the rest of the scents here. What is that, Edward? I don't think I've ever smelled that fragrance before." My smile widened, she was close to bulls-eye.

"You most certainly have not, Tanya. Please, _please _remember that this is something entirely new to you. Throw away your preconceived notions," I begged.

"I promised you I would listen, Edward." She had a, now girly tone to her voice. Her attraction to me still, after a few decades, was incredible.

"Jacob, will you bring out Renesmee please?" I asked.

"Stupid leeches," I heard him mutter as he brought Renesmee out.

In reaction, Tanya and Kate skidded back four or five steps, both hissing fervently while quivering and shaking as if humans frightened by a venomous rattlesnake with no escape. Eleazar was in a protective stance in front of Carmen, who was also releasing multiple hisses out of shock.

"Oh _please,_" I heard Jacob complain under his breath.

"You promised to listen," I reminded them, stroking Renesmee's face.

"Some things cannot be heard!" Tanya exclaimed. "How could you, Edward? Do you know what this means?" There reaction wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but still, they were overreacting when they promised to listen.

"We have to get out of here." Kate trembled as she reached for the doorknob, ready to run out and far away as possible.

"Edward…" Eleazar seemed to go beyond words, knowing what this meant.

"Wait." My voice was like a stone in the graveyard now, a hard volcano ready to erupt. "Remember what you hear, what you smell. Renesmee is not what you think she is."

"There are no exceptions to this rule, Edward," Tanya snapped back at me, carefully eyeing Jacob, thinking of how she'd be able to escape with the two of us; he could rip her to limbs only.

"Tanya,"—my voice was now even sharper—"you can hear her heartbeat! Stop and think about what that means."

"Her heartbeat?" Carmen whispered, peering around Eleazar's shoulder.

"She's not a full vampire child," I answered, directing my attention toward Carmen's less hostile expression. "She is half-human."

They all looked at me, not completely comprehending, not knowing what to say against the facts of truth that my mouth spoke.

Seeing their expressions calming down, curious still, my stone voice became softer, more appealing as Bella would put it. "Hear me. Renesmee is one of a kind. I am her father. Not her creator—her biological father."

Tanya, still trembling, stood up straight; however, Kate was still very cautious of Renesmee, so she was still crouching, but she stopped trembling and hissing.

"Edward, you can't expect us to—," Eleazar started to say.

"Tell me another explanation that fits, Eleazar. You can feel the warmth of her body in the air. Blood runs in her veins, Eleazar. You can smell it." Jacob let out a huff; he'd been trembling and shaking, trying to keep in his wolf form from the Denalis who'd at first opposed me, ready to kill Renesmee; therefore, he was only being protective of her.

"How?" Kate breathed, releasing her crouch into the more curious step and stance. She had the courage to ask the same question that the rest of them had. Jacob chuckled; all eyes were on him.

"Sorry."

"Bella was her biological mother. She conceived, carried, and gave birth to Renesmee while she was still human. That's what killed her. I tried to get enough of my venom into her heart to try and save her. I was too late."

Silence busted, once again, into the room; though not for the grievance and sorrow of Bella's death and my failed triumph to save her. The Denalis were trying to contemplate the situation that was uncommon to both the vampire, wolf, and human world.

"I've never heard of a such a thing." He stiffened into a thinking position of his, wondering how something like this could ever happen.

"Physical relationships between vampire and humans are not common." Humor arose from my tone of voice, but there was no smile or smirk or giggle or chuckle to accompany its darkness. "Human survivors of such trysts are even less common, hence Bella's death. Wouldn't you agree, cousins?"

In response, Kate and Tanya scowled lowly at me, but I ignored it.

"Come on, Eleazar. Surely there is a resemblance that you can plainly see."

Carmen was the one who emerged completely. Moving around Eleazar, who growled in a low warning to her, she stepped closer to Renesmee, whom Jacob had passed over to me.

"You seem to have your mother's eyes, but your father's face." Renesmee being so irresistible, Carmen smiled at the young child.

Renesmee held her hand up to my face, wondering if it was all right to show Carmen her talent. I nodded.

"Do you mind if Renesmee tells you about her side of the story? She has an incredible gift for explaining things." There was happiness in my voice now, the tension had eased up more in the room, everyone now curious—except for Jacob and I—about this unexplainable talent that Renesmee had.

"Do you speak little one?" Carmen's curiosity had Renesmee in her arms, out of mine, in an instant. Eleazar let out a low hiss, warning the child not to hurt Carmen.

"I will not hurt her," Renesmee said, answering Eleazar's warning. "And, yes. But I can show you more than I can tell you." Her voice was a trilling high soprano, a beautiful wind chime that had Tanya and Kate flinching and stepping back a few centimeters.

Carmen took a breath in shock, the room easily tensed back up. Eleazar was at Carmen's side instantly, as if to yank the child away as soon as Carmen was hurt.

"You said you wouldn't hurt her," he grumbled, yet another warning. Jacob stepped forward, being very protective of Renesmee.

"Wait." Carmen was obviously mystified by this half-immortal, half-human's abilities. She looked tranced like Alice with her visions.

It took a while for Renesmee to show Carmen the whole side of her story, Jacob grumbling with impatience.

"What's Nessie showing her?"

"Every thing," I answered.

Another minute passed until Renesmee finally dropped her hand from Carmen's soft cheek. Carmen smiled, stunned by the indescribable talent of Renesmee's.

"She's really your daughter, isn't she? Such a vivid gift! It could only have come from a very gifted father."

"Do you honestly believe what she showed you?" I asked, my expression intense from knowing the truth. She had to. It was the only way for us to get this past us.

"Without a doubt." A simple answer.

"Carmen!" Eleazar exploded in disbelief of his mate.

"It seems impossible, Eleazar, I know, but Edward has told you nothing but the truth. Let the child show you." She passed Renesmee on to Eleazar, Jacob still as tense as he was. "Show him, _mi querida._"

Renesmee touched Eleazar's face lightly.

"_Ay caray!"_ As an instant reflect, Jacob had Renesmee in his arms immediately, giving her a protective stance away from Eleazar.

"Calm down, Jacob," I warned him.

"What did she do to you?" Tanya asked warily, creeping forward just as Kate was.

"She's just trying to show you her side of the story, just as Edward had mentioned." Carmen's voice was soft and smooth.

"Jacob, give Renesmee back to Eleazar. Nothing will happen, I promise," I assured him.

With a snarl, he handed Renesmee back to Eleazar. Looking encouragingly at Carmen, Eleazar let Renesmee touch his face once more.

After Eleazar's show, Tanya and Kate hesitated to see but eventually were won over by curiosity of Renesmee's talent and the truth of her existence.

"Thank you for listening." I took back Renesmee into my arms, but then Jacob asked for her to hold. So I handed her off to him.

"But there is the _grave danger _you warned us of. Not directly from this child, I see, but surely from the Volturi, then. How did they find out about her? When are they coming?" Her somewhat understanding of the grave danger was a remarkable guess. Then again, the Volturi were the largest coven other than us; therefore, they have to be the threat.

"When Irina appeared in the mountains that day, Renesmee was with us."

Kate and Tanya released hisses, their eyes squinting in understanding. "_Irina _did this? To you? To Carlisle? _Irina?"_

"It had to have been someone else. Irina would never do something like that to you," Tanya whispered.

"Alice saw her approach them." I winced at Alice's name, knowing I was the only different one in my family since she and Jasper left—aside from Renesmee.

"How could she?"

"Imagine if you'd seen Renesmee that day in the mountains, only from a distance, no explanation given. Wouldn't you make the same assumptions?" I pressed, stepping closer into the circle we'd all formed by accident.

"No matter what she—," Tanya began.

"You are our family. She shouldn't have done this to you," Kate interrupted.

"There's nothing we can do about her choice now. It's too late. Alice foresaw a month given," I stated louder, grabbing their attention from all their babbling.

"So long?"

"All of them are coming. That's got to take some preparation."

"The entire guard?" Eleazar gasped.

"Not just the guard." My jaw tightened at this explanation. "Aro, Caius, Marcus. Even the wives are coming."

Shock spread across everybody's expression—except for Jacob's because he didn't really know what any of this meant, nor Renesmee because she didn't even know who these powerful people were.

"That's impossible." Blankness crossed over Eleazar's pale face.

"I would've said the same thing three days ago, but it's true."

"But that doesn't make any sense at all. Why would they put themselves and the wives in danger?"

"From that angle, there's no sense at all; Alice said there was more that just the unjust punishment for a wrong crime. She thought you could help us."

"More than punishment? But what else is there?" Eleazar began pacing across the room, everyone's eyes on him as he thought of any other possibilities.

"Where is everyone else?" Tanya asked.

"Looking for friends like you, who can help us."

"We can't help you win, Edward, no matter how many friends you can gather. We'll only die beside you. Of course, after Irina's actions we deserve that, and of how we've failed to support you in the past."

I immediately shook my head, stopping her from whatever more she had to add. "We're not asking you to fight and die with us. Come on, do you really think Carlisle would ask for that? No. Since the Volturi are having their own witnesses brought, we might as well have ours. Just enough to make them hesitate, to listen to our side of the story."

"Do you think they'll care about her past?" Tanya asked, nodding at my preposition.

"As long as it foreshadows her future. So as long as she keeps from exposing us to human knowledge, then there is no punishment," I explained kindly.

"I am not dangerous at all," Renesmee interjected. "I never hurt Grandpa or Sue or Billy. I love humans. And wolf-people like my Jacob." She nestled closer to Jacob, making him smile. Kate choked in disgust. As so Jacob gave her a warning glance.

"Renesmee grows at a remarkable pace. By the end of the month she'll have gained another half year development."

"Well, that is something we can witness, no doubt. How can the Volturi ignore such evidence?" Carmen said in a decided tone; almost a sure felt one.

"We will witness, certainly, and consider some other actions, just in case," Tanya decided.

"Tanya, we don't expect you to fight with—."

"I know, Edward, but if that's what it comes to, we can't simply just stand by while your family dies recklessly," Tanya interrupted. "Of course, Kate can agree with me because it will be a suicidal mission." Kate's face lit up at those words.

"I'm in!" Kate added with an enthused tone.

I eventually gave up fighting with them. Every thing went splendidly.

While the sun just came up over the horizon, Renesmee was passed around like a brand new Barbie doll that every little girl wanted to see and touch. Jacob didn't enjoy that very much.

"How are the werewolves involved in all of this?" Tanya asked for Jacob, not pleased with asking him directly.

"If these guys from Italy can't stop to listen to Nessie, then we'll be more than happily obliged to stop them."

"You are a brave young one, but it will take more fighters like you to take them down. Especially more experienced ones. And Nessie?" Jacob's eyes narrowed, ready to pounce on the vampire that protested his fighting skills.

"My name for Renesmee, leech," he snapped in response. "You don't know our capabilities."

"Feel free to die then, mongrel," Kate spoke, standing by Tanya.

"But Renesmee is special; therefore, he is able to protect her as are we," Tanya said, out of compassion for their sister and her grudge against the wolves.

"An amazingly talented family, as well; a mind reader for a father and whatever this child's talent is referred to as. Also, Bella was a shield. I don't remember; she blocked me the first time we met. It's incredible, you're sent around the world looking for one like her and you happen to stumble across one. But I wonder if there is a name for this vampire hybrid. Perhaps a flip of what your father and mother could do individually. Amazing." Eleazar paced the floor, his tempo increasing as he glanced between Carmen, Renesmee, and occasionally Jacob frequently.

Anger and fierceness overwhelmed me at his statement. "What did you call my wife?" I stammered, hoping not to kill him with my first swing.

"A shield, I think. I can't remember. She was blocking me the first time we met."

"A shield?" The thought bewildered me, shocked me.

"Come on, Edward! If I couldn't get a read on her, I doubt you could, either. Could you ever hear her thoughts?"

"No," I murmured. "I've never been able to do so."

"Never? That would indicate a rather powerful latent talent, if it was manifesting so clearly even before her almost-transformation. Interesting."

"Neither Aro nor Jane could get a feel on her. It's possible that neither Demetri nor Alec would be able to, even if she was alive. A shield! Why didn't I think of that? Of course, the only one I've ever met was Renata and what she did was completely different."

"Yes, well, no talent is exact because no one thinks the same. That's amazing; I've never heard of Aro's or Jane's talents being thwarted. Especially Jane's."

The silence became a happiness, especially for me. Now I wasn't as confused over her unbreakable, unreadable thoughts, ones I tried to read through her brown eyes, expressionless and seemingly empty.

The sun rose to its zenith as we all paced around the room through boredom. Tanya, Kate, Carmen, and Eleazar had left to hunt. I would've gone with them but I had more guests that could show up.

_Why would all of them come? They've only attended the guard's administrations of unfathomable, untrue crimes committed by a coven. But every time, there's been a member of that coven that's been brought to the decision of joining the guard, that person being completely won over. This leaves the Volturi with more power than before. And Alice and Edward, and even Jasper have some pretty incredible talents. And Bella, well she probably would've had a very latent and incredible talent if she thwarted Aro's and Jane's gifts. So Aro must be curious on how she would've turned out, but she's dead and they probably don't know that._

Eleazar and the rest came back through the back door. Eleazar had to have been right. It was the only explanation that made sense for all of them to come. As soon as he walked in, he looked straight at me. "It has to be the only reason," he stated, his intuitive guess that I was listening to his thoughts were correct; but not out of curiosity, only out of mere boredom and frustration. "It's the only one that makes sense."

"But does it make sense to have all of them come here. There must be more than just an immortal child—just as Alice had mentioned, but what?"

"It doesn't make much sense to me. Unless they've come for power, meaning they're heinous criminals, only greedy for power. I don't want to think of them that way." Eleazar gritted his teeth, expressing an unhappy and reluctant look. "If you're right—."

"The thought was yours, not mine," I corrected.

"If I'm right…I can't even grasp what that would mean. It would change everything about the world we've created. It would change the meaning of my life. What I have been a part of."

Everybody else in the room seemed to have noticed our quiet conversation. Now the attention was placed on us. Not that I didn't mind that, it just made me very uncomfortable.

"What did we miss, my friend? I want to know so that I can argue these thoughts. You've never done anything worth castigating yourself this way," Tanya insisted, approaching only centimeters from behind Eleazar, Carmen and Kate following her steps.

"Oh, haven't I?" Eleazar began to pace across the floor, ignoring the hand that Tanya had placed on his shoulder. Then she turned towards me.

"Explain." Her words were succinct and sharp.

"He was trying to understand why so many of the Volturi would come to punish us. It's not the way they do things. Certainly, we are the biggest mature coven they've dealt with, but in the past other covens have joined to protect themselves, and they never presented much of a challenge despite their numbers. We are closely bonded, and that's a factor, but not a huge one. He was remembering other times that covens have been punished, for one thing or the other, and a pattern occurred to him. It was a pattern that the rest of the guard would never have noticed, since Eleazar was the one passing the pertinent intelligence privately to Aro. A pattern that only repeated every other century or so."

There was a pause as Tanya organized her thoughts, considering the so-called "debate" on our hands.

"What was this pattern?" Carmen asked, stepping into the conversation.

"Aro does not often personally attend a punishing expedition. But in the past, when Aro wanted something in particular, it was never long before evidence turned up proving that this coven or that coven had committed some unpardonable crime. The ancients would decide to go along to watch the guard administer justice. And then, once the coven was all but destroyed, Aro would grant a pardon to one member whose thoughts, he would claim, were particularly repentant. Always, it would turn out that this vampire had the gift Aro had admired. Always, this person was given a place with the guard. The gifted vampire was won over quickly, always so grateful for the honor. There were no exceptions."

Silence was upon us once more as Eleazar continued with his analysis. It just didn't seem likely that all of the Volturi would come to punish us.

"I could only think that the reason Aro had decided to come himself, to bring so many with him, is because his goal is not punishment but acquisition. He needs to be there to control the situation. But he needs the entire guard for protection from such a large, gifted coven. On the other hand, that leaves the other ancients unprotected in Volterra. Too risky—someone might try to take advantage. So they all come together. How else could he be sure to preserve the gifts that he wants? He must want them very badly," Eleazar stated. It made sense of his statement. It had to be the only reason.

"Well, Aro's never wanted anything more than he wants Alice," I remembered. Maybe that was why she had left so abruptly. "I think the Volturi were waiting for this—for some pretext. They couldn't know what form their excuse would come in, but the plan was already in place for when it did come. That's why Alice saw their decision before Irina triggered it. The decision was already made, just waiting for the pretense of a justification."

"But if the Volturi are abusing the trust all immortals have placed in them, then—," Carmen murmured, still intact with the conversation.

"Does it matter? Who would believe any of it? And if others could be convinced that the Volturi are exploiting their power, how could is make a different? No one can stand against them?" Eleazar asked.

"Though some of us are insane enough to try to." Kate had shifted her weight, Tanya nodding her head in agreement with Kate.

"You are only here to witness. If we can take away his argument against us, he'll be forced to leave us in peace," I interjected. Carlisle would never want them to die for us and, honestly, neither would I.

We sat around waiting and waiting, waiting for something other than boredom to come.

"Are you really going to do this?" Jacob wondered, finally moving from the couch and from Renesmee's view.

"Yes, we have—," I began.

"Wait!" Jacob cocked his head to the side, using his extreme sense of hearing. I listened over too.

I heard the sound of a new red Camaro's tires rolling up the gravel road.

"Time to get ready for the next round." Jacob stood in the dining room with Renesmee in his arms. The Denalis were all scattered around the house. Some outside, some on the first floor, some on the second floor. I placed myself in front of the door, creaking it open to reveal Peter and Charlotte.


	11. Kyra

The sun was setting on the west coast in the little town named Forks. It seemed to me that even though Forks was small, it was a huge attraction site; a dangerous attraction site. It didn't make any sense that because of one fragile human, the whole town was effected; a destroyed reputation, not that there really was one.

But it was hard to see the sun as it set. I guess the darkness of the clouds helps to support the dangers lurking in this tiny town. That would mean that danger is everywhere. Including in my own home.

By the last few seconds of the sundown, Carlisle and Esme had shown up. They had consumed Siobhan's coven as the lasts of the guests, Rosalie and Emmett arriving only a few days earlier. However, there was still no sign of Jasper or Alice ever coming back; though, they did send Zafrina and Senna, apparently keeping Kachiri with them. And there was no information about their exploration from Zafrina or Senna, meaning Alice left them clueless as well. But Kachiri must know something, right? How could she not? But what was it with Kachiri that Alice needed?

We had gathered all of the friends we could find. The Amazons, the nomads, the Irish coven, Amun's coven, the Denalis, and a few others. There were a lot of vampires, most of them were human bloodsucker—as Jacob would put it—and not like the lifestyle that my family and the Denalis had chosen.

"I don't like this," Jacob would say occasionally. I would answer with a comment saying that we had to do this.

The vampires didn't like the werewolves very much, and vice versa. Though the werewolves seemed to handle it better than the vampires did. I gave them a lot of credit for that. Though Jacob was the only one that every showed up inside the house, that was because of Renesmee.

However, the vampires who weren't used to the werewolves tried to keep their comments brief and quiet, but I could still hear them in their heads.

Everyone talked; everyone chatted. It was just your average party, except no music and no alcoholic drinks—well, none that pertained to the human diet.

It was a tiny conflict for those who chose to live off of human blood. There was the rule that they had to feed outside of Washington; however, some of the nomads, like Garrett, agreed to have a taste of animal blood. "It's not as satisfying as human blood," he said once, but he agreed to stick to our customs out of generosity and respect. It's not everyday that you get one large coven collecting other vampires to go against the Volturi.

"We're all just going to get screwed doing this!" Alistair mentioned. He was very, very opposed at going against the Volturi. He preferred to stay in hiding and out of trouble. He wasn't a very sociable vampire as some of us chose to be with mates and with each other. "There's no point! We can't win! They'll tear us apart limb from limb. With Jane and Alec, there's no way we'll ever come out victorious!" He usually stayed up in the attic, away from all of the other vampires.

Everyone's voice could be heard from ten miles away—only if you were a vampire though. Many I hadn't met but grew fond to immediately. Each with their own individuality and sense of thought, Alistair on his own track.

But there were two new, unfamiliar voices and even scents that came into play that night. I could hear them clearly as they spoke to Carlisle at the front door.

"Did Alice send you?" the doctor asked.

"No one sent us," a dark-haired man answered. He was tall and lean, dressed sophisticated-like.

"Then how did you know?" the doctor pressed on.

"Word gets around," another, blonder man replied with a grin.

I walked over to the two, additional to Carlisle, with Renesmee in my arms. I strode through the whole house warily until I reached the spot behind Carlisle, viewing the two vampires up close.

"Oh, Carlisle, you have been naughty," the blond-haired man said.

"She is not an imm—," Carlisle began.

"We don't care about the crime, Carlisle. We came for the fight."

"We were not planning on fighting," he opposed.

"Forgive us. We did not properly introduce ourselves. I am Vladimir and this is Stefan," the brunette one spoke.

"Please, come on in." Confused at the conversation, I walked away, back to the outside where Kate and Garrett were testing out Kate's "shock" ability.

Over the next two days, everyone prepared for the event that was to happen in about a month or so. Kate was constantly trying to project her Tasering talent so that we'd at least have some protection.

It was a good thing we had Zafrina. The pictures that she could have you blinded by were just as offensive as Alec's abilities. And Benjamin was a huge help, his ability of controlling the four elements was unique and amazing; though, Amun was totally against using him in the event but Benjamin was all for it. He saw things in a creative way, a logistic way instead of being held up as Amun's own weapon. I liked him.

But it took me longer than usual to warm up to the Romanians, Vladimir and Stefan. They didn't choose to see Renesmee's side of the story, rather go against everything the Volturi had set up in the last millennium or so. It irritated me because if it turned out to be a fight like the Romanians had predicted it so, then it would change the vampire world forever. Either they would render powerless, and us on top, or we'd all die and they'd have nothing to power over. There were good and bad sides to this.

However, the appearance of the Romanians was not as quirky and awkward as one more vampire's had been. She was one that no one had ever met before, all alone for the past five years or so. A young vampire, but so very good at what she did. Like us, she was a so-called vegetarian, and like me and Aro and Jane and Alec, had a talent that was useful to the mind. And it frustrated me.

She was small, smaller than Alice I presume. Her name was Kyra. She'd traveled alone from Japan and spoke fluently in all sorts of languages. She was very smart, funny, and somewhat beautiful. Bella would've been jealous.

She was similar to Bella in many ways. One way being, I could not read her thoughts. There were only few that could do that, the only two that I'd ever met were her and Bella. It frustrated me just as Bella had in the beginning. But there was no way I would ever end up marrying her. Her blood wasn't as potent and as sweet. However, she was as pale as Bella was. The only difference was that she was a vampire and Bella was not. Plus, Kyra was stuck with golden eyes while Bella had her brown eyes.

Kyra's talent was magnificent, though. She could erase other peoples' thoughts and still protect her own. It was amazing. Pretty much everyone was fascinated by her talent.

"Can you project?" Kate once asked.

"Yes." You could tell from her voice that there was a bit of a Japanese accent, though her tone was tenor like a saxophone.

"How far?" Kate pressed, intrigued by her answer.

"About 50 yards, give or take a few feet."

Everyday Kyra would practice. She would obviously be a big part of this event. With her, we'd actually have a chance of winning.

As everyone was fascinated by Kyra's amazing talent, the Romanians conversed to themselves.

"That one is just beginning to experience her talents, and she's young for a vampire. Think of what she'd give them, alone."

"Yes, you're right Stefan. There would be no need for the mind reader or the fire touch. But the earth mover and the pictures gale would certainly leave them with a lot. If the Volturi win this, then they will leave with more than what they came for. They've obviously come to destroy the golden-eyed ones and take more power, the greedy rulers."

"So that's it. We fight," Stefan stated.

"We fight," Vladimir repeated.

"We will fight, too," Tia, of the Egyptian coven, exclaimed. "We believe that the Volturi will overstep their authority. We have no wish to belong to them."

"Apparently, I'm a hot commodity," Benjamin agreed. "It appears I have to win the right to be free."

"This won't be the first time I've fought to keep myself from a king's rule," Garrett adding in a jokingly matter, walking over and patting Benjamin on the back. "Here's to freedom from oppression."

"We stand with Carlisle. And we fight with him!" Tanya concluded, getting a roar from the vampires on the inside and outside of the house. However, there were few that had not made their complete decision yet.

"The packs will fight with the Cullens." Jacob had finally spoken, speaking for the whole pack while leaning against the glass door. "We're not afraid of vampires," he added with a smirk.

"Children."

"Infants."

"Inexperienced."

Jacob grinned tauntingly.

"I know truth is on Carlisle's side. I can't ignore that," Maggie stated, coming out of the blue.

Siobhan stared after her coven member as Maggie walked out to join the crowd. "Carlisle, I don't want this to come to a fight." I was the only one that was paying attention to their conversation.

"Nor do I. Perhaps you could concentrate on keeping it peaceful. It couldn't hurt to try," he replied with a half-smile.

"Shall I visualize the outcome I desire?" she asked sarcastically.

Carlisle was openly grinning now. "If you don't mind."

Renesmee touched her hand to my face. I was completely oblivious to the fact that she was still in my arms. She was thirsty. So I called over Jacob, and we headed out into the dark woods to catch some prey.

"Those leeches think they're _so _superior," Jacob snorted.

"They'll be shocked when the infants save their superior lives, won't they?" I mocked, knowing that the pack would definitely be a big help to the event.

"Hell yeah, they will." Jacob playfully punched me, smiling from the bonding that we were having.

The hunting trip went well. And so did the rest of the time with the visitors. Everyone stayed within the boundaries except fed outside of Washington in total. Everything was going as planned. Kyra kept practicing her projection, which grew to extreme lengths. She could protect us all on the field.

As the date grew closer and closer, Forks grew darker and darker than normal; the storm coming straight at us for the big attack. The winds blew and whipped freezing snow and ice against our faces. Forks was behind us now as we stood in the field, waiting for the fight to come.

The footsteps grew closer as we prepared ourselves for the encounter of our enemies.


	12. All Is Fair In Love, In War

They approached us slowly, in synchronized motion with grace, though the rest of us scowled and hissed under our breaths in response.

They grouped in four rows, starting with gray cloaks on the outer perimeter; the color darkened with each line of bodies until the heart of the formation was deepest black.

It was true. They brought the entire guard, the wives, and all the ancients appeared. There were many of them, thirty-two would've been my accurate guess. They seemed skillful, willing to commit the acquisition believed to be more than punishment. They moved with perfection, each face speechless and expressionless, as if this has happened before.

And compared to their trained, disciplined thirty-two, we were outnumbered. We had just nineteen of us that had declared to fight, seven that would watch us be destroyed. Including the ten gigantic werewolves that had never even encountered such a clan of enemies, we were outnumbered.

The faces in this seemingly endless influx of vampires were the antithesis to the Volturi's expressionless discipline—they wore a kaleidoscope of emotions. First, they showed shock and even some anxiety as they viewed the unexpected force awaiting them. But that concern passed quickly; they were secure in their overwhelming numbers, secure in their position behind the unstoppable Volturi force. Their features returned to the expression they'd worn before we'd surprised them.

But the faces were that explicit, shadowed by the dark cloaks. This was more than just an angry mob, whipped to a frenzy and slavering justice. I could not fully accept the feelings of the vampire world toward the immortal children until now, especially after hearing the full effective story from both Carlisle and the Denalis.

However, it was clear that this motley, disorganized horde—more than forty vampires in general—were the Volturi's own witnesses. They would rumor the words that we were dead, the criminals and all associated were eradicated, and that the Volturi had acted with nothing but impartiality. The witnesses only were to witness—they wanted to help tear and burn, and conquer.

All hope was lost. Renesmee nor Jacob or even I alone would outrun this. We would not win this minimized war. There was absolutely no way that we would end up victorious, let alone be left to render under their superiority. The werewolves were infants for getting involved. They had less of a chance than we did, and yet they still got caught up. All for one little girl, one little vampire.

A vampire that I'd taken part in creating; Bella associated with the crime. I knew it was always a terrible thing to have ever agreed to such an action. However, my own daughter had even given me a similar affection that Bella had. And she loved Bella, even though she wasn't alive, as would I.

I would always love Bella; I could never ignore that—no matter how much I tried. She was selfless, creative, smart, clever. She was beautiful, everything that I could've ever wanted and more. The way she said my name, it was enough to drive me crazy. The intoxication of her blood was enough to kill me—and her. But I could never pull away. She was a magnet; I always got caught up. I tried falling out of love, but it was harder than I thought. She never stopped loving me and I vice versa. We were Romeo and Juliet. I, the vile creature and she, the beautiful maiden. It was the greatest love story I'd ever come to know. The affections we had for each other were off the charts, unimaginable, and impossible. And yet they were still there, increasing, more and more coming with every second she was with me. Though she was a magnet for trouble and danger, I was the most dangerous, she knew that but refused it, denied it because she loved me. She couldn't help that. Who could? But it was unbelievable the affection and control I had with her. How I loved her more than I wanted to kill her when James had dug his teeth into her smooth, pale skin, forcing me to suck the venom out. Or how heartbreaking it was to leave her automatically in the woods. Or how many countless times I fought with Jacob for her heart, only tearing her in two until I could accept the fact that the holes that I'd left for him to stitch up would never heal. Or the metaphorical tears and utter sorrow and emptiness that I felt when she left the world to go to what she would call Hell. An angel sent to Hell for my love. It's the greatest love story ever told.

I stared back at our enemies.

"Alistair was correct," I muttered to Carlisle, who had appeared next to my side during my dazing love memories.

"Alistair was right?" Tanya whispered, hearing my statement.

"They—Caius and Aro—come to destroy and acquire. They have many layers of strategy already in place. If Irina's accusation had somehow proven to be false, they were committed to find another reason to take offense. But they can see Renesmee now, so they are perfectly sanguine about their course. We could still attempt to defend against their other contrived charges, but first they have to stop, to hear the truth about Renesmee,"—my voice lowered, deeper like a graveyard—"which they have no intention of doing."

At my side, Jacob huffed.

Finally, the synchronized movements halted. There was complete silence but the flawless discipline remained unbroken; the Volturi froze into absolute stillness as one.

The large hearts of the wolves had grown louder as the immediate halt of the Volturi was because of their presence amongst us. From my notice, which was only for a brief second, there were more than ten wolves; sixteen wolves placed themselves within the semicircle of our army of vampires. The Volturi had gambled their entire species on this stand.

I growled out of fury, Zafrina and Senna echoing mine. But something brought me up short. Even if I did growl at them, we'd still die.

Then the ancients stopped to converse through thoughts. This made me grin widely.

"Edward?" Carlisle asked, low and anxious.

"They're not sure how to proceed. They're weighing options, choosing key targets—me, of course, you Eleazar, Tanya. Marcus is reading the strengths of our ties to each other, looking for weak points. The Romanians' presence irritates them. They're worried about the faces they don't recognize—Zafrina, Kyra, and Senna in particular—and the wolves, naturally. They've never been outnumbered before. That's what stopped them," I explained gladly.

"Outnumbered?" Tanya whispered incredulously.

"They don't consider their witnesses. They are nonentities, meaningless to the guard. Aro just prefers an enjoyable audience."

"Should I speak?" Carlisle questioned.

"Now's the only chance you'll get."

Carlisle held his arms out as if to hug Aro. His palms face up as if in greeting. "Aro, my old friend. It's been centuries."

There was dead silence for what seemed like days—only just a few minutes. I gritted my teeth as Aro contemplated the meaning of Carlisle's words. Then he stepped forward.

The guard—or a few of them—crouched forward, hissing, opposing the decision of their ancient one.

"Peace."

Aro moved a few more steps forward, his eyes shadowing curiosity.

"Fair words, Carlisle. They seem out of place, considering the army you've assembled to destroy me, to destroy my dear ones."

Carlisle shook his head in opposition. "You have but to touch my hand to know that was never my intent, Aro."

Aro's eyes narrowed under suspicion. "But how can your intent possibly matter in the face of what you have accomplished?"

"I have not committed the crime you are here to punish me for."

Aro's expression went into shock, and then into a tiny smile. "Then step aside, my friend, and let us punish those who should be punished. Honestly, nothing would please me more than to preserve you existence today."

"No one has disobeyed the law, Aro. Let me explain." Again, Carlisle lent out his hand. At this point, Caius had strode immediately to Aro's side, answering before Aro could even think one word.

"So many pointless rules, so many unnecessary laws you create for yourself, Carlisle. How is it possible that you defend the breaking of the one that truly matters here?"

"The law is not broken, Caius. If you would just list—."

"Impossible! We see the child, Carlisle! Do not treat us as fools!" Caius snarled.

"But that's the thing. She is _not _immortal, Caius. She is _not _a vampire. I can easily prove this if you would just listen for a few—."

With a swing of his hand, Caius cut him off. "If she is not one of the forbidden, then why have you assembled this enormous army to protect her?"

"They only stand as witnesses, Caius, as you have assembled yourself. Any one of these friends can tell you the truth about the child. Or you could just look at her, Caius, you can see the flush of human blood underneath her skin in her cheeks."

Caius snarled and growled as his first reply, obviously angry that he was proven wrong. "Artifice! Where is the informer? Let her come forward!" He searched the grounds behind him until he caught eye of Irina, hiding behind the wives. "You! Come!"

Irina watched him cluelessly, she stared at him in shock, scared stiff. A body guard urged her forward with a grunt, reluctantly she walked forward to Caius; however, her eyes glared innocently at Tanya and Kate.

As she took her last step in front of Caius, he slapped his silvery, stone-hard hand across her face. Tanya and Kate hissed at him. Irina shivered, her body falling rigidly as Caius pointed his clawed finger at Renesmee. A rumbled growl came from beneath Jacob's chest. I could feel one beginning to build up from my inner chest, but I held it down.

"Is this the child you witnessed? The one that was obviously more than human?" Caius demanded an answer as he slapped her once more. The hisses from Tanya and Kate grew slightly louder.

Irina glanced at us, observing and examining Renesmee who was helplessly sitting on top of Jacob's back, grasping on to my hand. "I…I'm not sure," she managed to stutter out.

Caius's hand twitched, just wanting to slap her across the face a third time. "What do you mean?" he demanded.

"She's not the same. I assume she's the same child. What I mean is, she's changed. This child is larger than the one I saw, but—."

Caius's immediate fierce snarl sent shivers through her spine, cutting her off as she lowered beneath him to show inferiority and fear of him. Infuriated, Caius turned to Aro to handle it.

"Show me what you're trying to say," Aro said sweetly, holding out his hand for her to grasp.

Scared still, she hesitated towards his body, obligated to hold his hand.

"You see? It's a simple matter to get what we need." He glanced at his mob slightly, knowing they'd be upset of the outcome. "And so we have a mystery on our hands, it seems. It would appear the child has grown at immense speed. Yet Irina's vision of the child with first memory was that of an immortal one. I am so greatly curious."

"That's what I've been attempting to explain to you." Carlisle sighed in relief. Carlisle held out his hand for Aro to except.

Before his response, Aro hesitated to reach for Carlisle's hand. Instead, he glared at me. "I would rather have the explanation from someone more central to the story. Am I wrong to assume that this breach was not of your making, my friend, Carlisle?"

"There was no breach."

"In the end, breach or no breach, I will be told every facet of the truth." Aro's voice hardened. "And the best way to get that is to have the evidence from your talented son. Since the child stays in contact with him, through hands, he must be involved somehow, am I correct?" His eyes narrowed in my direction, Jane echoing his movement of fierceness.

I turned around to kiss Renesmee on the forehead. Tears began to fall down her rosy cheeks, burying her face into my shoulder to dry them off, begging me not to leave.

Jacob whined, knowing what she wanted, opposing my leaving as well, but only for her happiness, partially for his safety as well.

"I will be right back," I promised both of them.

Jacob pulled away from me, tearing Renesmee away from me. I saw him lift his head behind to her, giving her comfort and warmth just as I left to face our enemies, giving them every thought that I'd encountered these past months.

I saw Jane give an evil grin as I crossed the line, the point where I was closer to our adversaries than to my comrades—and my daughter.

In the second that it took to me to get to Aro, I held out my hand for him to take. This was the moment we'd been waiting for, for the past month. This was the point of all our preparations: getting Aro to hear our side of the story. This was how they were to listen, how we'd be free of unjust, unnecessary punishment. This was how Renesmee would be safe.

Everyone was nervous at this connection. Caius scowled so deep that his wrinkles seemed to be larger and larger, his translucent skin would crease permanently. Renata fluttered into Aro's shadow nervously, ready to protect him from me. Jane and Alec stepped up to flank Aro and the other ancients. Jane bared her teeth, ready to attack at any second. Alec, though, narrowed his eyes in concentration, ready to incapacitate any of us—or all of us. All of them were ready to act at a second's notice.

All of them were only a few yards away—except for Renata—but could easily attack me. Jane could have me drop to the ground in a second, writhing in agony and pain. Alec could blind and deafen me before I could move anywhere. However, no one knew that Kyra had the ability to prevent those if she decided to. And out of respect, she'd probably do it because Bella would've done it.

Kyra showed empathy for my love's death, and would conjure up the ability to do the same things she could—nay, would do out of respect for me. I thought it was very generous, but wasn't necessary. I could die and not care as long as I would end up with Bella, leaving Renesmee with Jacob.

As Aro took my hand, I could feel the information from my thoughts converting to his—like having the venom of a bee sucked right out of your system; the doctors hold you down so you're motionless and helpless, compelled to the machine that gets it out. Or like blood being sucked by a vampire—without the frenzy. You were helpless, and in complete pain. Sort of like how I was brought into this life.

The pain I felt as Carlisle drew my blood and let the venom spread was excruciating. I could never even bring to draw a thought that I would ever see my own life again, however, I was unsure of what was occurring at the time. But for me to neglect whatever was given to me, I don't know. Maybe it was destiny for me to end up like this. Maybe it was fate for me to find Bella. Maybe it was real that I wasn't the monster I thought I was, but that I could provide a better life and live with the worst. However, it is deliberately unfair that I had been the one to kill Bella, out of my own selfish acts. I will never forgive myself for doing so. But living through the worst is nothing compared to living with out her, and who knows how long that could take—eternity or a few minutes. I personally liked the few minutes left of living without her, but for my selfish acts, I could not leave Renesmee to fend for herself, even if Jacob could help her and be hers. But maybe it was my duty to bring a new species—or at least to help to—into the world. Maybe, just maybe, that was the purpose of my existence.

I could feel my muscles loosen as Aro sucked out the lasts of my thoughts.

"You see?" I asked in a calmer voice.

"Indeed I do. I doubt whether any two among gods or mortals have ever seen quite so clearly."

The guard showed disbelief at Aro's words, wondering why and how every thing was totally altered now.

"You have given me much to ponder, young friend. Much more than I expected."

I left no answer as I listened to his words, trying to decipher the meaning between them.

"May I meet her? I have never dreamed of such an existence in all of my centuries. What an addition to our histories!" Aro exclaimed, almost pleading to hold Renesmee and meet her.

"What is this all about, Aro?" Caius snapped, taking a cautious step forward, wary of my actions and those behind me. I could hear Jacob snarling slightly, protecting Renesmee from the information Aro would provide to Caius.

In a calm voice, Aro responded to Caius's question, turning towards him. "Something you've never dreamed of, my practical friend. Take a moment to ponder, for the justice we intended to deliver no longer applies."

As a reply, Caius hissed, surprised by the words that Aro had presented him with.

"Peace, my brother," Aro cautioned soothingly. "Will you introduce me to your daughter?" Aro asked me once more.

Now, more of our foes hissed and growled at Aro and his new revelation. Some of my comrades behind me hissed but immediately stopped, knowing that this was the part we'd all been hoping for.

"I think it would be best if we met in the middle, don't you Aro?" I brought up.

"That will be best."

Aro walked back to my side, on my side with his arm over my shoulder, maintaining contact of what we all thought.

The entire guard fell into step behind us, Aro raising his hand negligently without turning to face them.

"Hold, my dear ones. Truly, they mean us no harm if we are peaceable."

Even more snarls and hisses escaped from the guard in protest; however, they stayed in their positions.

"Master," Renata whispered, flocking to his side nervously in order to protect him.

"All is well, Renata. Don't fret, dearest," Aro replied, his voice ice cold.

"Perhaps you should bring a few members of your guard with us. It will make them more comfortable," I suggested.

In a second, Aro snapped his fingers twice. "Felix, Demetri." The two vampires were at his side instantaneously, looking the same as the last time I saw them.

As we stopped in the middle of the field, I called out to the two that I would bring as accompaniments.

"Jacob? Emmett?" I asked quickly, both of them racing to my side. Emmett, because he would be dying to go; he could also help destroy Felix and Demetri physically. Jacob, because he wouldn't be able to bear being taken away from Renesmee, and because he—and his pack—brought fear and hesitation to the enemies in front of me.

"Interesting company you keep," Demetri said to me.

I made no comment back, however a low growl slipped through Jacob's teeth.

They stopped a few yards in front of me, Jacob uneasy about letting Renesmee any closer to them. So I ducked under Aro, away from his arm to join Jacob and Emmett who flanked me.

I lifted Renesmee off of Jacob's back; he was giving me a worried glance. _Are you sure you want to do this? What if they take her away and destroy her?_

"They won't, Jacob, be confident," I responded.

"Yeah, Jake," Emmett agreed. Emmett and Jacob got along well, surprisingly.

Aro paid no attention to our exchange. He tilted his head to one side, fascinated. "I hear her strange heart," he murmured with an almost musical lilt to his words. "I smell her strange scent." Then his hazy eyes shifted around, in search of someone. "Where is your dearest Bella?"

Obviously he did not see the part where Jacob and I had attempted to save her life. I thought it was ironic that I could hear Jacob's thoughts, and Aro probably could if he touched the wolf—which he wouldn't do—but Aro could not hear Jacob's thoughts through mine.

"She died in the attempt to deliver Renesmee; a very hard discussion for me to talk about, along with Jacob here," I explained, my voice was, again, an empty gravestone.

"That's so sorrowful, though I show…_no empathy whatsoever." _ Aro's thoughts counteracted his voice, one that sounded so sympathetic. "But she is exquisite. So like you, Edward, and like Bella, of course. Hello, Renesmee."

Renesmee took a glance of assurance at Jacob and when he nodded, she turned to me.

"It's okay, Renesmee."

Then she turned to Aro, "Hello, Aro." Her voice was a high soprano. I assumed she would've had her voice crack at some places out of fear, but there she was in my arms, as confident as ever.

Aro's eyes widened, bemused.

"What is it?" Caius asked from behind him.

"Half mortal, half immortal. Conceived and carried by Bella while she was human," Aro explained, still staring curiously at the child in my arms.

"Impossible!" he scoffed in response.

"Is it possible that they have fooled me, brother? Is the heartbeat you hear a trickery as well?" Aro asked, greatly amused.

Caius scowled, looking as chagrined as if Aro's gentle questions had been blows.

"Calmly and carefully, my brother. I know well how you love your justice, but there is no justice in acting against this unique little one for her parentage. And so much to learn, so much to learn! I know you have absolutely no enthusiasm for collecting histories, but be tolerant with me, my brother, as I add a chapter that stuns me with improbability. We came expecting only justice and the sadness of false friends, but look what we have gained instead! A new, bright knowledge of ourselves, our possibilities!"

As an invitation to know, Aro held out his hand to Renesmee. But she refused, only leaning forward from my arms to touch Aro's face.

In surprise, Aro did not react in shock as everyone else had; apparently he was used to the form of transformation and flow of thought and memory from other minds as I was.

His smile grew wider, sighing in satisfaction. "Brilliant."

Renesmee relaxed back into my arms, her face expressing seriousness. "Please?" she begged of him.

"Of course I have no desire to harm your loved ones, precious Renesmee."

_I will not harm them. When they are burned, Alec can incapacitate all of their senses, that way they won't feel a thing._

My teeth grit at his thoughts with an additional growl. From behind me, Maggie echoed my growl, outraged by his lies.

Then Aro's eyes flickered to Jacob. "I wonder," he pondered. _These wolves seem so connected to the Cullens. I wonder if we could be peaceable and have guard dogs. Hmmm…._

"It doesn't work that way," I said, the black and white and gray was gone as my tone of voice became harsh and cold.

"Just an errant thought, Edwa—."

"The don't belong to us, Aro. They don't follow our commands that way. They're here because they choose to be here."

At my side, Jacob snarled menacingly.

"They seem quite attached to you, though, dear friend. To you and Renesmee and, at the time, Bella. Loyalty."

"They're committed to protecting human life. That makes them able to coexist along side of us, but hardly with you. Unless you're rethinking your lifestyle," I responded, Jacob looking back and forth between Aro and I.

"Just an errant thought," Aro laughed merrily. "You well know how that is. Not all of us can entirely control our subconscious desires, dear one."

I grimaced at his point. "I do know how that is. And I also know the difference between that kind of thought and the kind with a purpose behind it. It could never work, Aro."

Jacob whined between his teeth, wondering what we were discussing since it was about him and the wolves. _What are you and this Italian foe chatting about?_

"He's accumulating the thought of…of guard dogs," I explained.

At my statement, the entire pack erupted into a bunch of growls and hisses and snarls, as if Mt. Vesuvius was about to explode into a fountain of lava.

"I suppose that answers that question. I guess this lot has picked its side."

_We shall prepare._ Aro grinned evilly.

I hissed and crouched forward, slipping Renesmee onto Jacob's back. Felix and Demetri mirrored my action. Jacob began ripping growls furiously out of his throat, Emmett in his own stance, baring his teeth. A few of my comrades mimicked me from behind me, Kyra being one of them.

Aro holding up his hand, everyone went back to their original positions, including me. "So much to discuss. So much to decide. If you and your furry protector will excuse me, my dear Cullens, I must confer with my brothers.

So as Aro brought his guard forward, Emmett, Jacob, Renesmee, and I tailed back to where our families were waiting.

Caius began arguing with Aro at once, and as much as I regretted tuning them out, I did so.

"Kyra, shield us all," I ordered. This was when the guard would attack. While the ancients discussed, the guard tried to see what they could do once the ancients decided.

"I'm on it," Kyra responded, exerting her shield around us all.

I could barely hear the ancients whispering to each other. It was easier to read their thoughts, but I would not.

"The werewolves…"

"Ah, my broth—."

"Will you defend that alliance, too, Aro?" Caius interrupted, furious at the wolves' presence. "The Children of the Moon have been our mortal enemies since the dawn of time. We have hunted them to extinction every where except for this America. Yet Carlisle encourages a familiar relationship with the enormous infestation—no doubt in an attempt to overthrow us. The better to protect his warped lifestyle."

I cleared my throat, catching the attention of all the ancients. "Caius, it is the middle of the day. These are not Children of the Moon, clearly. They bear no relation to your enemies on the other side of the world," I explained, gesturing to Jacob.

"You breed mutants here!" Caius spit back at me, angrily.

"They aren't even werewolves. Aro can tell you all about it if you don't believe me, Caius." Members of the pack took glances between each other, eventually all looking at Jacob. I could see his shoulders go up and then drop—a shrug.

"Yes, Caius. Though the creatures think of themselves as werewolves, they clearly are not. The more accurate name for them would be shape-shifters. The choice of wolf form was purely by chance. It could've been any other animal when the first change was made. They truly have nothing to do with the Children of the Moon. They have merely inherited this skill from their ancestors. It's genetic—they do not continue their species by infecting others the way true werewolves do."

Caius growled at Aro in betrayal and irritation. "They know our secret."

"They are also creatures of the supernatural world, Caius. Perhaps their more dependant upon secrecy than we are; they can hardly expose us. Carefully, Caius. Specious allegations get us absolutely no where."

There was a silent pause between both sides of the field. We were preparing for attack, aware of all actions from our adversaries; they, waiting on a decision from Caius.

"I wish to speak to the informant."

Irina stepped up to Caius's presence, even more fearful than before. But she wasn't looking at any of the ancients. Her face twisted in agony, her eyes locked on Tanya and Kate, lined up to die.

"So you appear to have been mistaken by your accusations, have you not?" Caius ordered.

"Yes," Irina stammered. Tanya and Kate leaned forward anxiously, wanting to know what Caius would do to their sister next. "I'm sorry. I should have made sure of the evidence before accusing the Cullens. But I had no idea…." Irina trailed off with her statement.

"Caius, brother, could you expect her to have guessed in an instant something so strange and impossible? Any of us would have assumed the same."

Ignoring Aro, Caius spoke sharply to Irina. "We all know you made a mistake," he said brusquely. "I was referring to your motivations, informant."

"My motivations?" Irina waited nervously for him to answer or clarify for her.

"Yes, for coming to spy on them in the first place. You were unhappy with the Cullens, were you not?"

"I was," she admitted softly.

"Because…?" Caius prompted.

"Because the shape-shifters murdered my friend. And the Cullens wouldn't stand aside to let me avenge them."

"So the Cullens sided with the shape-shifters against our own kind—against the friend of a friend, even," Caius summarized.

This disgusted me. Caius was travelling down his own list to find some accusation to eliminate us. Sadly, he could not find any.

"Yes, that was my point of view." Irina stiffened, afraid of what was to come.

"If you would like to state a complaint against the shape-shifters present—and the Cullens for supporting their actions—now would be an excellent time to do so." Caius smiled a tiny cruel smile, patiently waiting for Irina to give him his next excuse.

I suppose that Caius didn't understand real families—or relationships based on love rather than just the love of power. I assumed he overestimated the potency of vengeance.

"No, I have no complaint against the shape-shifters, or the Cullens. You came here today to destroy an immortal child and none exists. This was my mistake, and I take complete responsibility for it. The Cullens are innocent, and you have no reason to still be here. I am so very sorry. There was no crime; there is no valid accusation and no reason for you to continue here."

As soon as Caius raised his metal staff, I reached for Renesmee and blocked her view of what was to happen. Jacob whined, wondering what the hell I was doing; however, he didn't think a question as to why I would protect Renesmee. At this point, reasons for protection didn't matter. He was only obligated to protect her from everything that was going on, and so reasons could not matter to him.

By the time Caius hammer his staff to the ground, Irina was burned, screaming in terror as three of the Volturi soldiers leaped forward to hold her down and kill her. Flames towered over the five of them as Irina released her last screams before she was dead.

The soldiers rushed back to their positions after the sudden inferno, not feeling guilty of their actions.

"Now she has taken full responsibility." Caius smiled coldly, turning to stare at Tanya and Kate.

There was no more peaceful silence on our side.

"Stop them!" I yelled, grabbing on to Tanya before she could charge at Caius with pure rage. Carlisle locked his arms around her waist, restraining her from taking one step forward. "Don't give him what he wants!" Garrett was the strongest one—and the closest—to withstand Kate's Tasering abilities.

"Zafrina!" I yelled, hoping she could give them a better view.

Tanya and Kate fought and fought, exhausting themselves but still kept their rage and fought their every will for Irina.

"Listen to me, Tanya, Kate," Carlisle whispered intensely. "Vengeance can not help her now. Irina wouldn't want you to waste your lives this way. Think about what you're doing. If you attack them, we all die."

That got them to stop.

Immediately, we were ready for attack again. Carlisle and Garrett were whispering soft, comforting words to Tanya and Kate.

I could see that Aro was shocked, glaring at Kate and Garrett. He knew from my mind of Kate's gift, and how Garrett had tested it out a few weeks ago; so shouldn't Garrett be knocked down from Kate's gift once again?

Apparently Aro was unaware of Kyra's ability; he mustn't have paid close attention to my thoughts to really know her gift. For once, I was glad for Aro's rare idiocy. It was also most likely that he didn't know of Kyra's mental shielding because she had grown so fond of Renesmee, Jacob, and Seth; werewolves associated vampires kept their thoughts secret from mine to Aro's. It still slightly appalled me.

In a split second, the guard was ready to pounce, ready for any trigger to attack. But we were ready to fight back, well-prepared on our side just as much as they were theirs. This would be an interesting, even fight.

The silenced tension between us was divided by Caius' harsh words, joined by his evil smile.

"Now that Irina has been punished for bearing false witness against this child, perhaps we should return to the matter at hand, shall we not?"

No one responded, tension rebuilding to a higher extent than it was previously.

It was Aro who broke the tension again. "I'd like to speak to some of your witnesses. Procedure, you know."

_It's possible that we can find a crime against the Cullens through their witnesses. Then a punishment can be justified._

I hissed harshly, my fists balled up, showing every crease in my bones through my shimmering, hard skin. There were more contrived thoughts and plans of theirs against us than I thought there was before. Maybe they'd conjured up more ridiculous plans that would be rejected by us. I could tell, through Aro's eerie smile, that he was planning an even more effective plan to eliminate us all.

Jacob noticed my reaction and growled in unison, warily stepping a few feet backwards, ready to run away with Renesmee if needed. Renesmee's eyes widened, unsure of what was going on.

I watched Aro as he sprinted over to Amun, walking fast to my eyes but seeming invisible to those who weren't apart of the supernatural world. Trails of mist left behind a cold chill as tension built up even more, the highest it's been yet. Few comrades of mine cussed loudly in their minds, hissing and growling aloud. Few foes of mine hissed louder than my comrades, greatly opposing Aro's actions. Especially because he was unprotected; Renata hissed the loudest, louder than Jane who bared her teeth directly at me and Jacob and Renesmee.

"Ah, Amun. It has been way too long, my old friend," Aro greeted kindly, though his thoughts said something with an opposite meaning.

"Time means little to me," Amun answered, irritated by Aro's close presence.

"Yes, it can be very time consuming to organize new-comers into a coven, but I am glad your new additions have fit in so well. It's terrible that I did not meet them sooner, which I assume you planned." Aro gestured towards Amun's coven, lingering ever so lightly on Benjamin. "But the reason for your presence was to witness this child, was it not?"

Amun nodded but said nothing, eyeing Renesmee.

"And what did you witness for this coven?"

Amun sighed before answering, unsure of how to word his response so that suspicion was not hinted in his voice.

"It is evident that she was not fully immortal, but not completely mortal, either. I have observed her exceeding growth rate and that she generically looks like Edward. I have observed nothing more than you have seen in his thoughts," Amun explained.

"Do you think she should live?"

A growl escaped my mouth, echoed by Jacob's and surprisingly, Kyra's, Zafrina's, and Carmen's.

Wary of his answer, Amun hesitated, "I was called on to witness the child, not to make judgments; however, I see no danger in the child whatsoever."

Aro hovered around, deciding which witness would be his next victim. His eyes landed on Eleazar.

"Dear Eleazar. It's been a while since we've last chatted." His voice was the same as when he greeted Amun, but his thoughts were more frustrated. "And what have you witnessed in your time with the Cullens?"

Eleazar answered calmly, "Just as Amun has, but I could add a little more. With the child's gift and her immense rate of learning, she easily understands the rules of our existence and the rules of the werewolves' existence; therefore, she poses no threat to the human world or to revealing our secrecy."

Aro pondered Eleazar's response before he dealt his next question. "Do you believe the child should survive?"

"As I said," Eleazar began. "The child can't pose any threat of our existence or any belief to the mortal world, about our supernatural world"—Aro's eyes flickered to the nearby wolf, standing calm but ready; Seth returned the glare, followed by Leah and Sam, the others staring at the guard across the field—"and so she deserves the right to live."

Aro's expression grew frustrated; he grinded his teeth together, looking around for his third and final victim.

"Ah, Siobhan. You look as lovely as ever."

"Thank you, Aro."

"And what can you say about the child?" Aro and Caius narrowed their eyes, expecting an answer that could give them an excuse to execute all of us.

"The same as Amun and Eleazar. The child has a fabulous personality that could easily blend in with other humans and anyone or anything that stands on the face of this earth," she answered smoothly.

"So I assume you agree with your fellow informants that the child should not be destroyed."

"Yes, Aro, it is so."

Caius scowled beneath his breath, Renata and Jane both took a step forward. Everyone was anticipating the next move; everyone was ready to attack.

"Well, it seems that no law has been broken, but if we took the chance in guessing her potential, the unknown is vulnerable. If we were only sure of her potential. We must consider all sides for the safety of our existence."

Aro went on about Renesmee and her possible future, how it would be good to know about her future if it creates any threat to the vampire world.

"May I offer a considerable side?" Garrett petitioned in a level tone, taking a few steps forward.

"Nomad," Aro nodded, giving Garrett permission to speak.

Garrett's bold voice spoke aloud so that the Volturi's witnesses could hear him loud and clear.

"I came here at Carlisle's request to witness as others have, which is certainly no longer necessary, with regard to the child; we all know what she is.

"I stayed to witness something else. You. Two of you I know—Makenna, Charles—and I can see that many of you others are also roamers like myself. Answering to none. Think carefully on what I tell you now.

"These ancient ones did _not _come here for justice as they told you. We suspected as much, and now it has been proved. They came, misled, but with a valid excuse for their action. Witness now as they seek flimsy excuses to continue their true mission. Witness them struggle to find a justification for their true purpose—to destroy this family here." He gestured towards Carlisle and Tanya.

"The Volturi come to erase what they perceive as the competition. Perhaps, like me, you look at this clan's golden eyes and marvel. They are difficult to understand, it's true. But the ancient ones look and see something besides their strange choice. They see power.

"I have witnessed the bonds within this family—and I say _family _and not _coven_. These strange golden-eyed ones deny their very natures. But in return have they found something worth even more, perhaps, than mere gratification of desire? I've made a little study of them in my time here, and it seems to me that intrinsic to this intense family binding—that which makes them possible at all—is the peaceful character of this life of sacrifice. There is no aggression here like we all saw in the southern clans that grew and diminished so quickly in their wild feuds. There is no thought for domination. And Aro knows this better than I do."

I watched Aro's face as Garrett's words condemned him, waiting tensely for some response. But Aro's face was only politely amused, as if waiting for a tantrum-throwing child to realize that no one was paying attention to his histrionics.

"Carlisle assured us all, when he told us what was coming, that he did not call us here to fight. These witnesses agreed to give evidence, to slow the Volturi advance with their presence so that Carlisle would get the chance to present his case.

"But some of us wondered if Carlisle having truth on his side would be enough to stop the so-called justice. Are the Volturi here to protect the safety of our secrecy, or to protect their own power? Did they come to destroy an illegal creation, or a way of life? Could they be satisfied when the danger turned out to be no more than a misunderstanding? Or would they push the issue without the excuse of justice?

"We have the answer to all these questions. We heard it in Aro's lying words—we have one with a gift of knowing such things for certain—and we see it now in Caius' eager smile. Their guard is just a mindless weapon, a tool in their masters' quest for domination.

"So now there are more questions, questions that you must answer. Who rules you, nomads? Do you answer to someone's will besides your own? Are you free to choose your path, or will the Volturi decide how you will live?

"I came to witness, I stay to fight. The Volturi care nothing for the death of the child. They seek the death of our free will."

Then, Garrett turned his position to face the ancients. "So come, I say! Let's hear no more lying rationalizations. Be honest in your intents as we will be honest in ours. We will defend our freedom. You will or will not attack it. Choose now, and let these witnesses see the true issue debated here."

He turned back to the Volturi's witnesses, still bold in his speech. "You might consider joining us. If you think the Volturi will let you live to tell this tale, you are mistaken. We may all be destroyed"—Garrett's shoulders lifted and then dropped, a shrug—"but then again, maybe not. Perhaps we are on more equal footing than they know. Perhaps the Volturi have finally met their match. I promise you this, though—if we fall, so do you."

At the end of his heated speech, he stepped back on Kate's side, prepared for the onslaught.

"A very pretty speech, my revolutionary friend," Aro complimented.

Garrett snarled, "Revolutionary? Who am I revolting against, might I ask? Are you my king? Do you control me? Do you wish for me to call you _master_, just as your sycophantic guard does? Or shall I follow—."

"Peace, Garrett," Aro interrupted. "I was only referring to your time of birth. Still a patriot, I see."

Garrett snapped at Aro, glaring at him furiously.

"Let us ask our witnesses. Let us hear their thoughts before we make our decision. Tell us friends, what do you think of all of this? Do we take the risk and let the child live? Do we put our world in jeopardy to preserve their family intact? Or does our patriotic friend have the right of it? Will you join them in a fight against our sudden quest for domination?" Aro asked, eyeing all of his witnesses behind the guard, who'd erupted into murmurs and whispers until one spoke out.

"Are those our only choices? To either side with you or fight against you?"

"Of course not, Makenna. You may leave just as Amun had," Aro answered calmly and eagerly.

"Then what Garrett claimed was truth. The patriot has spoke of nothing but the truth about the Volturi."

"I am very sorry you see us that way," Are said, sounding upset but meaning nothing.

"It is not what I see, but what I feel. Garrett said that there were those who had ways of knowing lies, and I, too, know when I am being lied to and when I am confronting the truth." It was Makenna's mate, Charles, who had spoken.

"That was our witness, we shall flee this battlefield," Makenna stated, interrupting Aro's next words.

A few other vampires followed in their steps, disappearing into the thick woods, away from the war-to-be and away from facing death. It wasn't long till I would face mine, and I was ready to embrace it.

That left an estimated amount of thirty-five vampires that had stayed. Few were too confused to make the decision, while the vast majority of them were too aware of the direction this confrontation had taken. I guessed they were giving up a head start in favor of knowing exactly who would be chasing after them.

Aro saw the same thing as he walked back to his guard, keeping his pace steady.

"We are outnumbered, dearest ones. We can expect no outside help. Shall we leave this question undecided to save ourselves?" Aro presented to his guard.

"No, master," they whispered in perfect unison.

"Is the protection of our world worth perhaps the loss of some of your number?" he pressed.

"Yes, we are not afraid," they breathed again.

"Brothers, there is much to consider here," he called somberly.

As the ancients counseled, there were many tears and goodbyes all around me. There were many kisses and hugs as we all prepared to depart for good.

Renesmee climbed down Jacob's back, clinging to my legs, tears streaming down her face. I pulled her up in to my arms and held her tightly, desperately hoping she would somehow survive this.

It was hard to know that she'd been the one to bite Bella, and that I'd once regretted ever creating such a magnificent creature. With her brown eyes and curly hair, it was easy to tell that I was her father and Bella was her mother. It as hard to ever refuse such a thing, no matter how hard I'd tried. It was impossible. I couldn't live without her—neither could Jacob—and she couldn't live without me. With her presence, I saw the purpose of her life and mine.

Jacob's nose touched her back, his fur brushing up against my shoulders. It was only a few weeks ago where I'd completely hated him. Now we were both about to lose someone important in our live—for the second time. I, now, completely understood the pain and torture he'd been through in the past few years. To constantly be stabbed in the heart and keep fighting for love. I'd fought against him for Bella's heart, and now he had Renesmee. I'd finally realized the point where he had suffered more pain in sixteen full years of life than I had in one hundred and nine years, where he had lost so many battles for Bella and how many times he kept being dragged back, only to be broken again. And as my enemy and my brother, I gave him more appreciation now more than ever.

"I love you," Renesmee whispered in my ear.

I was speechless as she spoke those words.

"I love you, too. We'll always be together—in our hearts; you, Mommy, and I." I placed my daughter on Jacob's back. Tears welled in her eyes as she let go of my last finger.

Jacob whined, thinking of the three of us by the campfire. "Goodbye, Jacob, my brother…my son."

The goodbyes filled with love and pain died down as we all faced death. I looked around as every vampire was braced and prepared for the first attack.

The offensive guard of the Volturi concentrated as the pursued their gifts, ready to destroy us while the ancients conferred with each other. Jane and Alec mimicked each other; Jane focused on Carlisle while Alec tried to incapacitate all of us at once. Chelsea tried to break our bonds so we'd fight each other. The three of them were frustrated because they could not find their gifts working on us. Afton was trying to mentally release the craving amongst some of our witnesses to destroy the werewolves, but the gift of his could not find a result where we turned on the pack. Demetri took an attempt to recognize our scents, our minds, but he could not remember them long enough. Heidi screeched as she tried to overpower all of our minds with her high-pitched scream, trying to render us to follow her every order, following Aro's every order, but our minds held their own. Corin tried to manifest our feelings—sort of like Jasper—, tried to think that we felt compelled to the Volturi and would fight against our comrades, but we were all anxious for their reaction where their powers were helpless against us. Frustration overwhelmed all of the Volturi's guard, because their gifts showed no result whatsoever. I grinned with success.

And our side attacked. Kyra held her shield over all of our team. It was amazing how well she could hold it. Benjamin was trying to blow away Alec's power, reflecting it back to the Volturi's guard with the forces of air. Siobhan was murmuring words, trying to will this war to be victorious on our side, and so that no one would die. Charles, who'd appeared back on our side, with Makenna at his side, was inflicting pain inside out from each member of the Volturi, rendering them weaker as they fought against us. Tia was showing them how they looked if they weren't alive, only bones and dust, though that didn't do much. Randall crushed the towering boulders behind us and threw the fragments at the Volturi with his hands at once. Benjamin had the earth rumble and crack below them, causing them to pause their gifts and catch their falls. The wolves growled, inching forward, prepared to take out the closest guard member they could. Mary, probably the most dangerous of us all, began sucking out each piece of power that the Volturi had; however, the powers of the guard easily recoiled back, only being weakened slightly. Randall took another throw but barely made any dent in their skin. Siobhan muttered much louder and with much more force, calling out the spirits of some sort to help her. Kyra pressed her perimeter out even farther, leaving us to gain strength, not lose any. I was listening intently to the ancients' conference; it was hard because Renata surrounded them all. We had defended ourselves well.

Aro, staring at Alec's mist that could not find a way to break the shield, then at Chelsea to see if any ties were broken or tighter though were not, then to the rest of the gifted members in his guard to see if any power had been effective, before he spoke.

"Before we vote, let me remind you, whatever the council's decision, there need be no violence."

I laughed as I paid attention to Siobhan's words. He'd obviously missed Randall's shattered rock fragments around the ground, and Benjamin's rift in the field.

"It will be a regrettable waste to our kind to lose any of you. The Volturi would be glad to welcome many of you into our ranks. Kyra, Benjamin, Zafrina, Mary. There are many choices before you. Consider them." Aro's eyes flickered to Chelsea, who was putting in much effort to break our ties but could not.

After a moment of silence, Aro spoke once more, "Let us vote then," he announced reluctantly.

Immediately, Caius answered, "Her future is unknown to our existence; therefore, she shall die along with all who protect her."

I growled at Caius' smirk that followed his response. Jacob snarled along with me, knowing the meaning of Caius' words.

"I see no danger from this child; she is safe enough for now. We can always reevaluate later. Let us leave in peace," Marcus, for the first time today, stated. Caius' grin did not falter, Jacob did not silence, glaring at Caius. It was like you could hear his cussing words right through his growls.

No one relaxed.

_Edward! Renesmee is not one of a kind! I found Nahuel in South America with his caretaker, Huilen. Kachiri is here, too. I also have a special guest for you! Please, Edward! Don't let Aro cast his vote yet! We can prove Renesmee's future!_

"Yes!" I hissed as I heard Alice's thoughts.

Everyone looked at me, wondering what Aro could've possibly said in his thoughts.

"Aro?" I called out, letting the hint of victory seep through my voice.

"Yes, Edward? You have something further to explain?" He held out his hand and stepped a few feet forward.

"Perhaps. First, if I could clarify one point?"

"Most certainly, dear friend," Aro hesitated politely.

"The danger you foresee from my daughter—this stems entirely from our inability to guess how she will develop? That is the crux of the matter?" I pressed further.

"Yes, if we could be positive that, as she grows, she will be able to stay concealed from the human world—not endanger the safety of our obscurity…" He trailed off from his agreement.

"So, if we could only know for sure exactly what she will become, then there would be no need for a council at all?" I pushed even further.

"If that were true, then, yes, there would be no question to debate." Aro's voice was wary as he was clueless to where I was leading him. Murmurs filled the air in confusion, all eyes on me.

"And we would be friends once more?" I questioned.

"Yes, young Edward. Nothing would please me more," Aro responded.

"Then I do have something more to offer."

_How is that possible?_

"She is unique, yes. Her future can only be guessed at." Aro's eyes narrowed; annoyed with the way I was taking this.

I could only oppose his statement. "Not unique. Rare, certainly, but not one of a kind."

Even more, louder whispers erupted from every member on the battlefield. Jacob's eyes bugged out at me, forgetting Caius' vote. Renesmee kept touching his head, wondering _why_? But he didn't know.

"I don't believe I follow you." _How can she not be one of a kind? Who in their right mind would ever create such a creature?_

"Why don't you join us, Alice?"

Alice peeked out from the woods, skipping slowly. Jasper followed, looking painful to be facing the Volturi once more. Four others that I only knew one of followed suit behind Jasper, calmly and quietly.

Renesmee leaped from Jacob's back and ran straight across to Alice, crossing out from beneath Kyra's shield. She was Volturi meat now.

Jane was the first to reach her with her gift. Renesmee dropped down to the ground, screaming as loud and as high as she possibly could.

It tore me to shreds to see my daughter hurt. In synchronized motions, Jacob and I both shot Jane murderous glances. She only smiled, concentrating on Renesmee. The screaming pierced all of us, as Jane kept her writhing in pain. Caius smiled evilly, too.

Jacob began running at Jane, but I stopped him before he could be Volturi bate, too. "Jake, it's just what they want. Don't give it to them," I cautioned.

He finally calmed down a little when Renesmee stopped screaming. Kyra's shield stretched out to protect her from Jane, and in a second, I was hugging her, wiping away her tears.

"It's okay, baby." It was strange calling her that. "What Jane does is only mental. You weren't physically hurt. She won't do it again," I said in assurance.

Her hand patted my cheek, showing Alice's face.

"I know you only wanted to greet Alice. I know," I murmured. She buried her face in my shoulder to cry some more.

Everyone was staring at us, absolutely shocked by my words to Renesmee, how fatherly I could be.

Alice galloped next to me, still holding Jasper's hand.

Kachiri, the muscular, dark-haired woman, reunited with her sisters through hugs and tears, obviously happy that Zafrina and Senna had not been killed yet.

One woman, who'd swayed under Kyra's shield, was small and olive-toned. Her long, black braid reached all the way to her waist, blowing in the slight breeze. Her deep burgundy eyes flitted nervously around the confrontation before her.

The second was a man, standing next to the olive-toned woman; he seemed very young. His skin was an impossible rich, dark brown. His wary eyes flashed across the gathering, and they were the color of warm teak. He heart accelerated with exertion, matching Renesmee's.

And the third was a tan woman. Her black hair was long and braided. Her eyes were as black as Sam's fur, terrified by the Volturi. Her skin barely sparkled from the peek of the sunlight that came through the clouds. A smile spread across her face as she spotted me, holding on to Renesmee. She looked about my height but dainty with every step she took closer to me. And as she came closer, I could tell she came from Australia.

"Alice has been searching for her own witnesses these last weeks, and she does not come back empty-handed. Alice, why don't you introduce the witnesses you've brought?" I suggested.

Caius snarled. "The time for witnesses has past! Aro, cast your vote!"

Aro silenced his brother with one finger, curious about Alice's witnesses, his eyes glued to Alice's face.

"This is Huilen and her nephew, Nahuel."

"Speak, Huilen. Give us the witness you were brought to bear," Aro commanded.

Huilen looked at Alice, who'd nodded in response, before beginning her witness.

"I am Huilen. A century and a half ago, I lived with my people, the Machupe. My sister was Pire. Out parents named her after the snow on the mountains because of her fair skin. And she was so beautiful. She came to me one day in secret and told me of the angel that found her in the woods, that visited by night. I warned her. As if the bruises on her skin were not warning enough. I knew it was the Libishomen of our legends, but she would not listen. She was bewitched.

"She told me when she was sure her dark angel's child was growing inside her. I didn't try to discourage her from her plan to run away—I knew even our mother and father would agree that the child must be destroyed, Pire with it. I went with her into the deepest parts of the forest. She searched for her demon angel but found nothing. I cared for her, hunted for her when her strength failed. She the animals raw, drinking their blood. I needed no more confirmation of what she carried in her womb. I hoped to save her life before I killed the monster.

"But she loved the child inside her. She called him Nahuel, after the jungle cat, when he grew strong and broke her bones—and loved him still.

"I could not save her. The child ripped his way free of her, and she died quickly, begging all the while that I would care for her Nahuel. Her dying wish—and I agreed.

"He bit me, though, when I tried to lift him from her body. I crawled away into the jungle to die. I didn't get far—the pain was way too much. But he found me; the new born child struggled through the underbrush to my side and waited for me. When the pain ended, he was curled up at my side, fast asleep.

"I cared for him until he was able to hunt for himself. We hunted the villages around our forest, staying to ourselves. We have never come so far from him, but Nahuel wished to see the child here.

Aro's eyes bored into those of the youthful Nahuel's.

"Nahuel, you are one hundred and fifty years old?" he questioned.

"Give or take a decade. We hardly keep track."

"And you reached maturity at what age?"

"About seven years after my birth, more or less, I was full grown."

"You have not changed since?"

With a shrug, Nahuel answered, "Not that I've noticed, no."

I could tell that Aro was becoming quite interested as he pressed more questions. "And your diet?"

"Some blood, some human food. I can survive on either."

"And you can create immortals?" Aro's eyes flickered between Huilen and Renesmee, who'd gotten over her pain enough to watch and listen to Nahuel's responses.

"Yes, but my sisters can't," he explained coolly.

"There seems to be more to your story, young Nahuel. Do tell," Aro pleaded, his eyes widening with curiosity.

"My father came looking for me a few years after my mother's death. He was very pleased to find me. He had two daughters, and no sons. He expected me to join him, just as my sisters had. Though, he was surprised to not find me alone. My sisters are not venomous—I don't know if it's by gender or random chance—but I already had my family with Huilen, and I wasn't interested in making a change. I see him from time to time. I have a new sister; she reached maturity about a decade ago."

"Your father's name?" Caius asked harshly through his teeth.

"Joham. He considers himself a scientist. He thinks he's creating a new super-race." There was disgust in his tone as he gave this information to Caius.

Caius snapped his head towards me, pointing a clawed finger at Renesmee. "Your daughter, is she venomous?" he demanded.

"No," I responded.

Aro held his hand to Caius, wanting to hear his thoughts.

_This child does not deserve to live._ Caius thought, exchanging evil glances between Nahuel and Renesmee. I snarled.

"Brother," Aro began aloud. "There appears to be no danger. This is an unusual development, but I see that the child poses no threat. These half-mortal, half-immortal children seem much like us." I smiled.

"Is that your vote, brother?" Caius asked coldly.

"Yes, it is."

Caius scowled, upset by Aro's decision. I saw Marcus roll his eyes, as if the fighting between the brothers was a yearly, or a daily thing.

"And this Joham, one so fond of experimentation?" Caius pressed.

"Maybe we should have a word with him. He could pose a threat. Maybe his daugh—," Aro stated.

"Stop my father if you shall, but my sisters are innocent. Let them be, please," Nahuel interrupted.

At that note of victory, Aro turned to the guard to announce they're leaving. There would be no war between us today.

Then he turned to Carlisle, the Volturi's witnesses departing into the thick trees.

"I'm so glad this could be resolved without violence. My friend, Carlisle—how I am pleased to call you friend again! I hope there are no hard feelings. I know you understand the strict burden that our duty places on our shoulders," Aro said sweetly.

Carlisle stiffened. "Leave in peace, Aro. Please remember that we still have our anonymity to protect here, and keep your guard from hunting in this region."

"Of course, Carlisle," he assured him. "I am so very sorry to earn your disapproval, my dear friend. Perhaps, time will bring forgiveness and heal our friendship."

"Perhaps, in time, if you prove a friend to us again.

We all watched in silence as the last of the ancients drifted away, behind the mist and into the trees.

"Daddy?" Renesmee asked. "Is it all over?"

"Yes, they've given up," I told her, smiling down at her safe, calm face. "Like all bullies, they're cowards underneath the swagger."

Tension rested amongst the field, everyone prepared for a surprise attack. It was Alice's trilling voice that broke it.

"Seriously, guys. I can see it. They're not coming back," she assured all of us.

The cheers and howls filled the air. The goodbyes had been overpowered by rousing hellos and happy endings. Tears of joy flooded—hypothetically, of course…unless you were Jacob.

Jacob nudged my back, a giant teardrop hanging by the fur beneath his right eye. "Glad we all didn't die, bro," I said to him cheerfully.

_Same here, bro! _He choked out a low laugh before licking Renesmee's whole side of her cheek. She giggled. I smiled.

Maybe we could live like this. Just Jacob, Renesmee, and I, and of course, in all of our hearts, Bella. Right now we'd probably be making out from being so victorious. The sun shined, so I knew Bella was ecstatic for us.

As we all settled back at the house for a small celebration, I explained our sweet victory to those who came in late.

"So, with Kyra's shield, the Volturi guard rendered useless. The guard has never had an equal match, let alone one where they were at the disadvantage. With Zafrina and Kyra, there was no way they'd get out of this successfully, and they knew that. They didn't handle it well, today," I'd explained, Emmett grinning triumphantly by my side.

Many of the nomads left immediately since they weren't comfortable in the social atmosphere at the house. The Denalis left right after Peter and Charlotte, needed time to grieve over the cruel death of their sister, Irina. Suit followed the Irish coven.

"Promise me, dear Edward, that you will bring your daughter to visit me often," Zafrina pleaded.

Renesmee patted my cheek, asking the same thing.

"Of course, Zafrina."

"We shall be great friends, my Nessie," Zafrina said, hugging my child goodbye.

Renesmee laughed, happy with her new friend.

As the Amazons left, I noticed Nahuel, and how he'd been staring at me all night long. I didn't blame him. I was glad that he saw me as what his father should've been like, not inherently evil. He'd finally begun to forgive himself.

Then Alice trotted to my side.

"There's someone you and Nessie need to meet." She dragged me over to the mysterious woman that had not spoken at all on the fields, the Australian woman.

"This is Priscilla; she can bring people back from the dead. I thought that after all that's happened, you, Jake, and Nessie deserve a proper happy ending."

"Hello,"—Priscilla stepped up and shook my free hand, Jacob's when in his human form—"I am Priscilla. You must be Edward, and you, Jacob, and is this Nessie?" she asked, her smile shining from the light bulb above us.

"My name is Renesmee, but you can call me Nessie," Renesmee spoke.

"Hello. If you don't mind, I need to know—."

"Bella Cullen," Jacob interrupted, answering the question Priscilla never finished asking. "I'm the best friend slash son-in-law, he's her husband, and Nessie's her daughter. Her birthday is September 13th, so she's a Virgo. Any other information?" Jacob announced in one breath, anxious for what was about to happen.

"No," she shook her head.

Priscilla backed up into the open backyard, where everyone else was. She murmured a few words in a language I couldn't understand, placing her palms on the floor of the earth.

I expected the wind to blow into a tornado and then for my love to step out of it, or for her to fall out of a hole in the clouds in the sky, straight from Heaven. I waited and waited and waited and waited. The wind was calm and the clouds created no gap. However, Priscilla muttered the unknown language again and again. I glared at Alice, wondering if this was some sort of joke, but as I ransacked her brain, she was as impatient as I was, waiting for something to be amazing.

After Priscilla had said those foreign words over and over again, louder and louder each time, for five minutes straight, the ground rumbled. I looked around for Benjamin, but it dawned on me that he and Tia had left over an hour ago. The ground rumbled some more.

After a good ten minutes of what seemed like an earthquake, the soil rifted and cracked over and over again; it split until I saw a hand stick out, trying to pull itself out.

I handed Renesmee over to Jacob, wanting to pull her up from the ground, but Priscilla stopped me.

_DO NOT TOUCH HER! You do and she dies for good! She will get out, Edward._

I halted, taking slow steps back to where I was originally standing, anxious for this creature to dig herself out.

It took what seemed like decades, until the elbow and the shoulder connected to the right hand came digging out. The hole in the ground grew bigger as her head came out slowly, dirt covering every strand of hair. She shimmered and glowed as the sunbeams danced against her skin. So she was a vampire.

It was much less time consuming for her to pile herself out once she had her other arm and hand free. It was only a matter of seconds before I saw her whole body. Her white sundress was dirty, but I didn't care. She was beautiful.

As soon as she opened her eyes, she stared at me with unknown clarity. I wanted to hold her tightly.

"May I hold her now?" I asked Priscilla. Bella was surprised to hear the ringing—or as she would say, velvetiness of my voice.

"Yes."

I nearly sprinted into her arms—well, I wanted to. She stared at me, in shock, unsure of what was going on. I held out my hand, patiently waiting for her to take it.

She looked like an angel, beautiful. Her lips were perfect size as they parted, showing her glittering teeth. The hard, pale skin defined her bones perfectly. Her eyes were bright, crimson red, just like any newborn vampire.

"Bella?" I hesitated before her. "I know it's overwhelming—disorienting, and the most. But you're alive, and all is well."

She still stared at me in surprise and shock.

I stroked her pale cheek. It felt like satin and silk in one.

"I love you," she finally stuttered, appalled by the sound of her soprano voice, just like her daughter's.

"As I love you, my love." I leaned in to kiss her.

I forcefully attached her lips to mine, satisfied with a groan. I didn't have to hold back like when she was human. It was very distracting—kissing her like this. I loved it.

To break the perfect reuniting kiss, Jacob cleared his throat and Renesmee wailed, just dying to see her mother.

Bella broke away, strolling over to Renesmee to answer her cry.

"Hello, Renesmee," she sang, smiling, finally able to see her daughter.

Renesmee touched out to Bella to be held, patting her cheek to show recognition. Bella gasped at Renesmee's gift, but was overwhelmed and fascinated by her daughter's talent.

As soon as Renesmee was done giving Bella a rundown of what she missed, she brought Jacob into a big vampire-wolf hug, not even disgusted by his smell at all.

And Alice was right. As I looked around, everyone was smiling. There was no way this could've turned bad now.

I smiled, facing my happily ever after.


	13. Full Moon

"Thank you, Alice, Priscilla." It was fabulous that Alice would even think of my own happiness, though it made me curious. It wasn't like she'd ever been satisfied with my happiness before.

"Why?" was all I managed to stammer, still holding on to Bella.

"Because it'd tortured me to see your face without her. I was crushed to know that I'd lost my sister-in-law, so it must've been ten times harder on you," she explained kindly.

I nodded in agreement, considering how I was selfishly wanting the Volturi to kill me on the field, not desiring to survive eternally without Bella in my arms. How I would gladly accept death right then and there, in order to see Bella once more. But now we were both alive, and both happy.

And Bella was fascinated by her new life. She took to it quite easily, settling with animal blood, completely ignoring human blood altogether—though, the only human blood she came close to was Renesmee's blood. It was hysterical how she'd first encountered Jacob's stench.

"Come one, Bells. Take a sniff, expose your nose," Jacob taunted from the back porch.

I was watching from the window as Bella took a whiff in Jacob's direction. She skidded back a few feet, plugging her nose.

"Ugh! Jacob, you stink!" she yelled, her voice echoing through the trees behind her. I couldn't help but laugh, Jacob theatrically plugging his nose, mirroring her.

"You're one to talk," he replied, chuckling slightly.

I doubled over in laughter. Seth came out from behind the trees, chuckling along with me. There was another bark, more like a warning, so I assumed it was Leah, telling Seth to stay away from the newborn vampire.

In a second, those crimson eyes were inches away from my face, almost pleading. Her brunette hair blew in her face, which would've swarmed and intoxicated all my senses. But her new scent was inherent and just as appealing to me; however, it didn't possess "desire to kill". It was more of a rose-and-chocolate-covered-strawberry smell. It was overwhelming.

I stared back at her, dying to know what was running through her mind. I hesitated to ask.

"What are you thinking?" I stuttered, holding her cheek in my right hand.

"I'm thinking I need a hunting trip," she answered lightly. "And I'm thinking you should go with me."

I pursed my lips, debating whether or not Jacob could handle by himself, neither of them destroying anything.

Finally, I complied, running with Bella's hand in mine. We leapt over the fifty foot wide river. I landed alone.

I raced forward, knowing Bella was stronger and would plant her feet on the ground farther into the woods. I paused after running a few yards, sniffing around for her scent. I was so close to finding her. I could taste her vivid scent on my tongue, lingering in my throat, teasing me. I searched the grounds for any sight of her.

Then I saw her perched up on a boulder, leaning over a wide cliff. She looked beautiful, her white gown flowing in the wind, her hair tailed behind it. The ribbon in her hair matched her scarlet eyes, a pair that spotted a grizzly bear below the boulder.

The grizzly bear slept below, unaware of the predator above him. The beautiful attacker pounced on her prey, surprising it. They rolled down the hill, the grizzly clawing at her pale skin, ripping the feathery dress to shreds. But the predator was unharmed, sinking her sharp, fang-like teeth into the flesh of the grizzly bear. With one growl of pain, the blood drained completely, and the pale, skillful vampire came out on top.

All the while, my dead heart was racing anxiously. This was the first time I'd seen Bella hunt. In the past, I had to watch Renesmee with Jacob while Bella hunted. And she usually hunted with Alice and Jasper; I hunted alone usually. Jacob and Renesmee would sometimes tag along, but Leah wasn't really comfortable with Jacob hunting with vampires. It confused me but I didn't question it.

It had almost killed me, not knowing how Bella had been able to hunt. She used to be this accident-prone klutz of a human, but I saw her alteration now. She was a graceful vampire.

"What?" she asked curiously, facing me. Her mouth dripped of blood from her prey as she threw the carcass off her body and walked over to me. "I know, I could've done better," she said, staring down at her tattered dress.

"You did very well," I complimented, still in a monotone.

"Then why aren't you looking at me like you usually do?" she pushed again.

I sighed, wrapping my arms around her waist.

"Because it goes against the grain, letting you wrestle with animals that could kill you," I explained.

"I haven't wrestled with Jake," she teased.

"Yet. He hasn't done anything worth pissing you off yet," I added.

She rolled her eyes at me.

"Are you still thirsty?" I asked, changing the subject.

She thought about that for a moment, driving me insane, before she answered, "Yeah."

I took in the aroma. When the wind blew by I could taste the pulse of blood on my tongue, the smell flaring through my nose. There were five of them in the thicket, about thirty yards northeast of us. I could hear the twenty hooves that stomped unevenly on the ground.

My eyes opened up to see Bella grinning at me. We darted to the five in the thicket, startling them with our attack. Bella had taken down a buck while I drank from two fawns. Predator to prey, the cycle of life. The buck and two fawns dropped dead, bloodless, as Bella and I chased the two does that had ran off, easily catching their scent and murdering them, too.

After we left the staggering herd, Bella and I ran back home, jumping over the wide bridge to face the backside of the house. Carlisle had open a big book he was reading, Rosalie was cooing at Renesmee, Esme had out blueprints, showing Alice plans on building something, and Jasper and Emmett were rooting for some baseball team on the television. The werewolves were out of sight.

And as soon as Renesmee saw Bella, she cried out for her. Renesmee always wanted to see Bella, be held by her, and that was that.

It wasn't long before it was time to put Renesmee to sleep for the night. We laid her down in her single bed, letting the velvet red blanket collapse over her peach-skinned body. I could hear Jacob panting outside, his four paws thumping quietly against the mossy ground, as he always did every night, on the look out for any danger that would dare harm Renesmee while she slept peacefully.

Her breathing was light as Bella sang Renesmee a lullaby. Her dreams were calm and colorful, filled with rainbows and unicorns. Then a tea party setting appeared.

All four of us—Jacob, Bella, Renesmee, and I—were sitting on a cloud sipping tea, while constantly smiling at each other. Then Alice and Jasper appeared in the scene with their own cups. Then Carlisle and Rosalie, and Esme and Emmett joined in, all sitting on top of the cloud, smiling. Soon enough, the wolves became present in the dream, though, they didn't have any cups of tea with them, as well as Jacob. And we all sipped happily ever after.

But the taste of the tea grew moist and mouth-watering; I was chugging the glass down to the end. And the end seemed endless as I gulped down the red liquid down and down again. I could see Bella's face, supping down the blood faster than I did, her crimson eyes glowing brightly, fire engine red. Renesmee's attention was brought to the drink, her brown eyes buried by clouds of black. Everyone was overwhelmed and addicted to the tea of blood; the wolves smiling away.

But how the blood came to be endless, I don't know. Where did it come from? Who'd supplied it? How many people were sucked dry? Would we have to leave town? Would the Volturi come to destroy us all again? Who had survived? Then a new creature appeared; her eyes scarlet red, her lips coated with human blood as she added the three hundred, eighty-secondth corpse to a pile of dead people. All of faces I knew.

And the dream stopped, changing back to rainbows and unicorns. Thankfully, it was only just a dream. If the massacre to the human world got that bad, then the Volturi would've stepped in by now, to destroy who'd ever murdered so many mortals. I shook my head, putting back in the rainbows and unicorns, trying to forget the tea party dream. But something else had caught my attention.

Bella's song had ended wonderfully; however, my attention dragged out of the bedroom window, down to Jacob. He was as alert as I was, Seth and Leah only farther out, pausing to hear the addition of paws.

It was some sort of animal, but not one that we fed on. No, it'd embraced our presence, not running away. I could hear Jacob's low growl, backing up to the house to prepare for attack against whomever—or whatever—dared to hurt Renesmee in their attack. Seth and Leah's rippled snarls appeared to be closer to the house as well.

And as I looked out the window, I saw the animal. It looked a lot like Jacob, and any other werewolf, but I knew exactly what it was.

As I glanced up into the sky, scanning the darkness for the moon. The ball of white was full. No new moon, no crescent moon, no waning moon, no waxing moon, no half moon. A full moon.

I stared at the Child of the Moon that was prepared to attack Jacob, Seth, and Leah. I raced downstairs, Bella on my heels, wondering what the heck I was doing, to the center of the living room, catching the attention of my family.

"We have a problem," I stated.

"What?" Carlisle worried, getting up from his book and the couch.

"There is a Child of the Moon outside. Jacob, Seth, and Leah are trying to hold it off but they're probably not going to last. I think we should deal with it now."

"No!" Bella protested. "If we deal with it, you and Jacob and someone in this family could get hurt. I say we just run away from—."

An ear-splitting howl was released, cutting her off completely. Renesmee came running down the stairs, a worried look on her face.

"I say that someone stays in here with Renesmee while the rest of us go out and fight beside the wolves. Esme, would you please stay with Renesmee?" I asked kindly, almost sprinting out the door to help Jacob.

She nodded, picking up Renesmee and cradling her, singing her back to sleep. But Renesmee refused to shut her eyes.

Then we were there, facing our absolute mortal enemy. I narrowed my eyes, attempting to read it's thoughts.

_That bloodsucker will pay for our near extinction. All of them. We hunt them into complete extinction. But why would our brothers turn on us? We will destroy them then, too._

The snarls and growls ripping from the Child of the Moon's throat, through his teeth, drowned out the rest of his thoughts. He was completely focused on destroying us, the entire vampire world, and his assumed brothers who protected it. For once, I hated the dark sky, contrasting the full moon.

The Child of the Moon bared his teeth at us, retreating a couple of steps. Silver blood dripped from his gums and his teeth and his tongue, pooling at his feet.

Emmett stepped forward to embrace him, Jasper and Rosalie flanking him. I rummaged through his brain, trying to pick up some signal of thought.

_There are so many here tonight! This shall be one tough fight. Too bad my brothers will not come to side with me. Instead, they head straight to Italy or where ever that scumbag of a leech is. Thinks he can destroy us all. Nope!_

And he was right, this would be one tough fight. He snorted slightly, then went back to snarling, stepping closer to Emmett, Jasper, and Rosalie.

I heard Renesmee whine from upstairs. Esme was watching out the window, Renesmee peeking through her arms to see me, Jacob, and Bella, just about to be destroyed.

It occurred to me, that the danger kept attacking us. Maybe Bella was still a magnet, even as a vampire. How many times Ben's car came attacking her in the parking lot. How many times I'd almost killed her. How those low-life druggies almost took her in as a personal sex assistant, killing her when they were done. How James had tracked her. How I left her in the hands of werewolves. How Laurent had almost killed her. How she'd jumped off the cliff. How I couldn't resist coming back to her. How Victoria wanted her vengeance, an eye for an eye. How many newborns had tried to reach her. How she held through with Renesmee. How she'd died by the morphine and my venom. How she was standing next to me, just as unsure of the outcome than I was. And of course, how the Volturi had come to eliminate what they perceived as power and competition.

Some more wolves appeared in the small clearing. Quil, Embry, Brady, and Collin flanked Jacob, Seth, and Leah. Sam, Jared, and Paul stood right in line with us, ready to attack. Jacob must've called in reinforcements.

We were all unsure of how to fight this thing, but we all knew one thing: do not let him bite you. If he did, well, we'd either be dead or be a Child of the Moon, depending on your supernatural existence. Hopefully, we'd win.

_I'll step forward. Jared and Paul flank me. Quil and Embry, you can get back up for Jared and Paul. Jacob, I think it's best if you take his left side. Edward? If you're listening, you and Emmett and Jasper should take his left side. Everyone else should be prepared to fight if this plan ends badly._

Jacob and I nodded, Sam stepping forward, closer to the beast.

"Jasper. Emmett," I called out, both of them stepping on my flanks, Bella, Carlisle, and Rosalie behind them. Leah, Collin, Brady, and Seth took open positions, ready for any chance of attack.

It was fifteen to one.

There was silence; no one moved, ready for any attack. Then Sam leapt, landing on top of the beast's body. He shook Sam off, growling at Sam, which didn't affect him. Jared and Paul each took turns, Sam getting back up and trying again. All being slammed down to the rough ground, some thrown at a tree or two, cracking them in half, breaking many bones.

Eventually, Jacob grew fed up, just attacking for himself. I had to admit, Jacob could put up one hell of a fight if you pissed him off, anger that could only falter over time.

Jacob was knocked up and down millions of times, no bones broken, though. And he kept coming back to the beast, even more angry than before. It was an even fight between the two. Jacob got his teeth dug into the silver flesh of the Child of the Moon, and Jacob had gashes that healed within a minute or so. Jacob left so many marks, cuts, and teeth bites on the monster that the Child of the Moon began to retreat, afraid of Jacob. I was proud of him. Then Renesmee cried out, distracting Jacob only by mere accident.

And the beast took his chance, jumping on top of Jacob, baring his teeth, ready to cut open Jacob's flesh. And ready to kill him.

That's when Carlisle stepped in. Carlisle was the only one who had the direct angle to stop the beast from killing Jacob, and he took that chance.

Carlisle's white body slammed into the darkness of the beast's body. His teeth dug in, ripping away at the skin of the beast. The silvery flesh came gushing out, constantly running. It was more effective than what Jacob did. His teeth dug in a hundred times, maybe a thousand. Carlisle was too angry at the surprise attack of the Child of the Moon that his anger had overpowered his compassion for any creature.

But there came a turn in the fight. Carlisle had almost killed the beast, and with one more bite he probably would've. But strength of this Child of the Moon came from out of nowhere, as he was weakening from blood drainage. And at one point, his teeth dug through the pale white, rock hard skin that held the compassionate vampire together.

The vampire crashed down on the floor, amazingly defeated.

And we all attacked now. The next vampire to sink their teeth into the Child of the Moon would kill him. With all five of us piled on top of the beast, Esme scared out of horror and complete sorrow, he would die soon.

And the sound of silver blood being poured out came into play again. The last of the beast's blood pooled out of the left side of his face, right at the corner of his eye. He collapsed to the floor just as Bella had wiped her mouth of the beast's disgusting blood.

Rosalie and Emmett rushed Carlisle into the house, setting him on the dining room table that Esme had loved so much. She came downstairs in a instant, close to grieving over her companion.

Within an hour, with no way to save the vampire who'd started this family, his skin turned colder and colder, his eyes closing for good. The full moon had shown on the compassionate vampire's heart as he left the world.


	14. Reunited

If Esme could have, she would've broken into tears by now. It was distressing to have Carlisle pass away like that. To have him be killed by a ferocious beast, just to save Jacob and the rest of us. It was a heroic thing to do.

But he was the core of this family. He'd created Esme, Rosalie, Emmett, and I, creating a family that preserved human lives. He set a great example of a good vampire, one who's nature is to kill mortals, but he saved lives as a doctor, using his nature for good. He'd lived so many years in this existence and made out of it what he could, a car taking an alternate route when the main one was being constructed on. He took the chances he had, such as becoming a doctor and saving all of our existences. He'd created me, my mother's strange dying wish, and as a companion, a friend. I'd despised him at first, for ever creating me to be a monster, but then I learned his lifestyle and knew that we could get along. He was every bit a father to me as he was to Rosalie, Emmett, Alice, Jasper, and Bella. He set a great example for this family, doing what was right over everything wrong. He didn't deserve to die that way.

Jacob was snoring on the side of the couch. We had him all bandaged up as best as possible, though no one knew how to fix his injuries, or Sam's or Jared's or Paul's. The rest of the wolves hung out around the outside, Jacob and Seth the only ones comfortable enough to step into our house, just in case more Children of the Moon decided to show up throughout the night.

The morning rain came pouring down. It felt as if I was in a movie, where one of the main characters died and we're all at a funeral in black, and rain is pouring down on all of, just to show the cheerlessness of the death. It was as if the weather knew what was going on, Mother Nature looking down on all of us. I chuckled at the analogy.

Everyone looked at me as if I was having hysterics during the wrong moment. I just shook my head and walked away to stare out the window, continuing my epiphany and rerun of memories with Carlisle.

The sight of him with Esme after I'd returned from my fifteen-year rebellion against the monster in me. The disgust in my voice when he'd found Rosalie dying on the streets, trying to save her, turn her into one of us. Seeing him create Emmett for Rosalie. How he'd kindly welcomed Alice—whom had taken my original room—and Jasper into the family. How he'd done it anyway, despite my bitterness of being the monster I was. And seeing all of them have a companion or someone to love, and I, alone. How I'd questioned his lifestyle from the beginning, and then accepted it because he didn't want to be a monster, just like me. At that point I'd learned to accept Carlisle, and how he'd only changed people who were dying, not because he was selfish. He wasn't the monster I originally saw him as, and I'd learned from him, like a son learns just by watching his father.

Then it'd hit me. What if Priscilla could bring back Carlisle for Esme, just as she had Bella for me.

"Alice!" I called out.

"Yes, Edward?" her trilling voice surprised me slightly as she stepped next to my side.

"What if we could have Priscilla bring back Carlisle?" I suggested.

"Edward…" Her face pursed as if to tell me something that was hard to explain. "She can't do that. She can only bring back humans as vampires. Carlisle was a vampire, so she can't bring him back. I'm sorry."

"I was courteously thinking of Esme and her sorrow," I responded softly.

"Well, it doesn't work that way, Edward. There's no way to bring him back."

Renesmee came walking over to me, ready to leap in my arms. I caught her in the same moment, stretching out my arms for her to jump into.

Her hand carefully slammed against my neck, showing me Carlisle's face. She was wondering where he was.

"Nessie, you saw him get slaughtered last night," I told her.

"But he's Carlisle!" she cried out. "He can't die!" Tears started to stream down her face rapidly.

Jacob was up on his feet, no matter the pain it brought him, scurrying over to me. "What is she crying about?"

"Carlisle."

"Oh." He went to settle back down on the couch, ready to slip into a nap once more.

"But he did Renesmee. The Children of the Moon are our mortal enemies. They can kill us just as easily as the Volturi can," I explained, trying not to hurt her feelings.

Bella came over, stroking her reddish-brown curls.

"Don't worry, sweetheart. Carlisle is in a happy place, right now," she said, trying to calm her daughter down just as I would.

"I guess now would be a good time to show them the house," Emmett said sarcastically.

"House?" Bella and I asked in unison.

Alice stepped over to us again, speaking up for Esme. "We built you a small cottage, that way you could have some alone time," she said, her voice in a monotone. "Would you like to see it?" she asked, gesturing towards the backyard.

"Yes," I said immediately. If anything, this cottage could get us away from reality. My own dream world with my own family.

"The follow me." Alice skipped out the back door, Esme following behind slowly, still inconsolable over Carlisle's instant death.

I flipped Renesmee on my back, her hands clasping around my neck, my hand in Bella's as we raced behind Alice to the cottage they'd built for us. The trees flew by me at ever meter increment, the animals fleeing at our surprise. The ground was soft beneath my feet, but it was terrible to run barefoot after the ground had been soiled form the beast's blood. Maybe the blood would be sucked up by a nearby palm tree—which there were none—and a coconut will fall, the beast being reborn. I'd kill the beast then destroy and tree or plant with in the area where the blood had spoiled and soiled the ground—the despicable chrome blood.

When Alice halted, she stopped only a few steps from what seemed to be a building built out of nature. The dimensions of the cottage were built out of elm grove wood, the roof made from pine trees. Small glass windows were placed outside, peeking into an even more natural place. A stone pathway led up to the arched door, flowers planted along the sides of the walkway.

On the inside, you first walked into a small family room. The mismatching furniture brought together the inherent sense of the room. Deer heads, moose heads, and dead fish were on plaques and placed on the walls around the room. My guess was that they had fun draining the blood of these animals in the process. The fireplace was like a carved out beehive, glowing white, yellow, and blue sparks from the burning fire wood.

The next room was a nursery; in the center, a bed covered with grizzly bear fur. In the corner their was a small dollhouse that was made out of wood, and painted in the many multicolors of autumn. My assumption was that this was Renesmee's room. Her closet was just as big as the room, stocked with all sorts of outfits. Alice's doing.

The last room you walked into was a beach aroma. The canopy was covered in feathers and white cotton. The floor painted as sand. The walls painted of ocean blue and jungle green, vines hanging neatly over the bed, matching the beach scene. Esme must've thought we'd get attached to Isle Esme, and she was right.

Through the back door, there was a garden, filled with many different types of plants. The smell was wonderful. The different sized stones rolled out nicely to a small pond, filled with tiny fish that dove for cover when you stood over them. It was a miniature ocean, matching the whole natural scene.

And the small area that held our clothes was just as stocked as Renesmee's was, though the closet was the size of the beach room. Half seemed to be Bella's, half was mine. Bella almost ripped off Alice's head for going shopping and picking out frilly satin and silk outfits instead of the casual that she preferred. I laughed at their bantering, letting Renesmee explore her dollhouse and play with the fish that enjoyed her company.

After all of them left, Jacob taking Renesmee back with him, Bella and I were left with the alone time given. She smiled at me.

Her crimson eyes, now auburn, bored into my face. Her arms reached up and locked around my neck, her lips only centimeters from mine. I could feel her breath on mine, our bodies intertwining. The fabric tore and ripped quickly as I forcefully attached her lips to mine.

This delayed, second honeymoon was nothing like our first. I didn't have to hold back this time; she was free to explore me. It didn't matter to me if she was stronger than I was. I deserved it after leaving her with bruises that first night; I didn't care anyway.

And she set me on fire. Every touch, every kiss. It was overpowering ecstasy as we became one on the sand-pale floor.

Dawn was just appearing over the horizon, reflecting against the small pond. A morning dove started singing it's morning song, just as it did every morning, embracing the sun's presence. The musical tone travelled through the air, whistling through the trees, waking up all the creatures of the forest.

Her song ended peacefully, the dawn now fully in attendance.

"Do you miss it all?" Bella asked me, breaking the silence with her scented breath and moving mouth.

"Miss what?" I returned, wondering what she was thinking.

"The softness, the warmth, the smell. I mean, I'm getting every thing with no loss, and I was wondering if you were," she elucidated.

I laughed at her, not in a mean way, but just that she was completely wrong.

"I find it hard to believe that one could have more than I do now. Not everybody gets what they want and more in on day, guaranteed that I was not pleased about Carlisle's loss," I replied.

"I am," she began, trying to find a word to describe her feelings. "Confused."

I lifted myself up, making it easy to see her, to face her.

I placed my hand against her cheek.

"You are warm."

My hand travelled down her body, from her temple to her waist. I could see that she loved that, her auburn eyes rolling back into her head slightly.

"You are soft."

I paused, letting her reclaim herself before we both could get too carried away.

"And as for the smell. Your new scent is just as appealing as your human scent. You wouldn't believe how addicting you could've been," I said, proving her statement wrong.

She was about to protest against my trial that proved her wrong, but I selfishly pulled her lips to mine again, intertwining with her body again.

The sun shimmered against the even-watered pond, showing that the morning had passed on a while more.

I'd venture to guess it was almost seven A.M., and Renesmee would be awake soon.

"Renesmee," I began, knowing Bella was awake in my arms, waiting for someone to say something.

She glanced up at me, her eyes more golden today than yesterday. Sighing, she hugged me and then crawled out from beneath me, trotting sluggishly into the closet. She grunted as she entered the double doors, not knowing what do wear today.

I helped her out by sniffing out the stenches of casual denim jeans and stretch cotton before stepping into my beige pullover and white khakis. I snorted at the way she stared at me in my outfit. Her mouth was half open, venom hanging out her mouth, replacing the drool that would've come out if she were human.

"Come on, Bella," I pleaded, taking her hand. She refused it. I stared at her, confused.

"What?"

"Let's race." A competitive smirk smeared across her face, preparing to race against the fastest vampire in the family.

"All right." I let my hand drop, sprinting in unison with her for the first few yards. After that I'd gained a few feet more, in the lead. I'd landed across the river, triumphantly yelling out, "Ha!" waiting for Bella's feet to land.

They never did.

So I ran back across, searching for her scent. When I'd picked it up, I'd realized a new scent. She must've followed it curiously. I knew the scent myself, however, she didn't. And it'd worried me because she'd never been near a real human before, and maybe she'd already killed him—that wasn't likely since she knew him, too, and as soon as she saw him, she'd stop trying to murder him and resist the fragrance.

As I traced the two scents combined, I found Bella staring at him, watching him as he walked up the front porch steps.

"Hi," he muttered to Alice, who'd opened the front door before he could knock. "I came to see Nessie and Jake."

"Don't breathe," I cautioned Bella as soon as she knew I was there behind her. She swallowed any breath or air she hand.

"Please, come in," Alice greeted in her high-pitched voice.

He stepped inside, Alice shutting the door behind her, looking straight at Bella and I before it had completely shut. So she was aware of Bella's presence and mine in the bushes just off of the driveway.

She turned to me, her golden eyes widening in wonder.

"Would you like to see him without killing him?" I asked.

She nodded like a five-year-old child accepting a chocolate chip cookie.

"Then let's head back to the house." I raced her back, letting her win this time. I was still unsure of letting her embrace him as a human. He would definitely be surprised to see her. It would be one hard explanation.

Charlie was holding Renesmee when we walked in.

"Stay here," I warned Bella.

I cantered into the next room, standing in front of Charlie.

"Hello, Ed," he greeted casually. "I'm so sorry about Carlisle." It seemed that he'd been saying that to every vampire in this room, except for Carlisle, who I'm sure was chuckling at Charlie's unnecessary compassion and empathy.

"I'm already in the acceptance stage. Charlie, there is someone you need to see. But first, I'd like to explain."

He looked up at me, his lips as white as my skin, just waiting for an answer.

"I met another vampire over the summer, and she has the ability to bring humans back from the dead as vampires. I will tell you this: what you're about to witness goes beyond the supernatural abilities of what I, Jasper, or Alice can do. Jasper will you come here, please?" I asked him politely, pushing Charlie towards the kitchen where Bella was standing.

"Try to calm him down if possible," I whispered to Jasper, knowing it was too low for Charlie to hear.

We appeared around the corner. Bella was sitting on the counter top when Charlie saw her. His eyes bugged out, not believing what he saw. He went speechless.

"Charlie, Bella is back from…." I decided not to finish that sentence, knowing he was too wigged out and breathless right now.

"Jasper…" I started to say.

Immediately, Charlie calmed down. Bella was already aware that Jasper had caused a change in Charlie's feelings. But if he wasn't holding on to Renesmee, I'm sure he would've collapsed or passed out by now.

"Hi dad!" Bella stated in her singing voice. She was excited to have him back in her life again.

_This family is so very weird. Vampires, human-vampire babies, associated with werewolves…ugh…and then bringing Bella back from the dead. My daughter was in Hell, and now she's back. This world is crazy._

"Dad, it's okay. Don't do anything imprudent, kay? I mean, I'm still me. I just have paler skin, golden eyes, and drink animal blood," Bella clarified calmly and casually.

"I'm…not…going…to do…anything," he stammered, almost ready to go down. Jasper must've been concentrating really hard on him.

"Dad," Bella began in disbelief. "You're knees are wobbling. Please, sit down," she offered, gesturing back to the couch where Jacob and Emmett were watching the Cowboys against the Titans, betting which team would win.

"Okay." Charlie put one foot in front of the other, slowly making it over to the chair that was unoccupied. I sat down, Bella right next to me. She shuddered at the open flame heat of Jacob's skin.

"Kind of freaky, huh, Charlie?" Jacob jumped in, completely ignoring the not-so-thrilling game. Emmett was winning the bet.

"Hey, watch it. Priscilla did this for you, too, mongrel," I chided at him. He just laughed.

"Yeah, but you hog her all the time," he fought back playfully.

"Hey, now. No fighting over me," Bella demanded with a smile, turning back to Charlie. "So how've you been, Dad? What did I miss?" Curiosity flowed through her golden eyes.

"Not much. A lot of robbers 'round. Guess money's bare in the cities. Gas prices went up." He began with the legist of it, what had been going on in the human world.

The sun was just setting over the horizon when Bella, Renesmee, and I headed to our cottage. Jacob was following behind us closely, but he stayed out of sight.

We let Renesmee sleep peacefully in her new bed before our session would occur. Bella had walked out by the pond, sitting down right on the stones. She was twirling a yellow pansy in her hands when I joined her. But before I sat down next to her, Jacob came into view.

_Bloodsucker, we've got a problem. _He sounded like a cop talking to another on a two-way radio. _There's a new leech in the area. Sam described her as a red-eyed parasite. 'Gotta be newborn. Anyway, she got a lot of freakish human things trailing behind her. Most of 'em men, some women. I think she's bad news. Real bad._

I froze as Jacob retreated, going to help track this newborn. Then she appeared out of the blue, red eyes and many human corpses trailing behind her—zombies, as fictional stories would call them. And as we mentally reunited, she handed me a cup of tea, of blood.


	15. Kirsilyn

I stood in front of the nightmare, not knowing what to do. She was a newborn, her eyes a bright, bright red, almost blinding, as she offered me the cup of blood. I refused to take it, knowing that it was infinite in it's supply.

"Hello, Edward, Bella. It is so very nice to meet you both," she greeted, determination ringing in her voice. "Would you like a cup of tea?" she offered.

"Oh, sure. I'd love—."

"No thank you. We will take none," I said in a harsh tone, stepping in front of Bella for protection. Jacob had doubled back to guard Renesmee.

"What is your name? You seem to know ours," I asked.

"Kirsilyn," she answered. She held her position, but the zombies behind her moaned. "Oh, don't worry about them. They've just had a long trip." She apparently noticed me eyeing them, wondering what they were.

"What are they?"

"Oh, their fledglings. A less-educated version of vampires like you and I. They feed on half-immortals. I am their caretaker." She smiled nicely, but I was so precautious that I knew her smile was not so very nice.

_I'm teaching them to destroy the human race. _She added in her mind.

"What do you teach them?" Bella asked, trying to step out from behind me.

"Just the lifestyle you take in. Feeding on humans is completely wrong."

"But you're a newborn yourself."

"Yes, like your young one, here, I have been well taught and well prepared." She was becoming snappy, more determined to destroy the human race. I wouldn't allow it. "And I know of the child, Edward. Nahuel has been so kind as to give me that information about him and his sisters, and the golden-eyed ones that protected little Renesmee here in Forks." Her head cocked, willing for her to see Renesmee.

"Liar!" I screeched at her, taking five steps forward.

At this point, my family and the wolves' were surrounding the very crowded garden. She just smiled.

"You think you can take me down, Edward? You and your family? And these shape-shifters? Impossible!" she yelled back at me. She was an evil villain.

"How did you create such vile creatures?" Esme asked, daring to step forward.

"By simply a bite, lovely Esme. And I'm so sorry about Carlisle. Those Children of the Moon can be so horrifying. I'm surprised he had enough gut in him to fight it. I remember him very well. So sad that he could not side with you."

I rummaged through her head, seeing for some kind of clue of what she was, what abilities she had. And why couldn't Alice foresee her coming? Was she invisible to all?

"To answer your questions, Edward. Alice could not see me because I can physically block my self mentally, kind of like Bella does by shielding her mind. But I can also control others' minds. Except for your dear Bella. You see, I was created and had mixed venom in my system when I was created, only a week ago. Between Renata and Heidi and Demetri. I could easily trace Renesmee and all of you like Demetri, control minds like Heidi, and shield myself like Renata. Amazing, I know, that a vampire can actually have three different powers at once. It's terrible that your little Renesmee doesn't keep anyone out. I find her mind so appealing, but she shields like her mother. You've seen the tea party image in her dreams, and after five minutes, that dream was immediately thwarted by Bella shielding all the nightmares away, including me. Really, Bella's the only one that could actually stand a chance against my manipulative mind and shielding, however, she has absolutely no skill and can not ever run from me. None of you can." A smile widened across her face. She lacked any sense of decency.

We all braced for any sort of attack, not knowing whether we'd win or not. Our side would decimate based on the look of these fledglings, and they way she seemed kind was almost as dangerous as Aro's kindness.

"I shall leave. And whether you decide to comply to my domination of the mortal world will decide your future. Either join or die. I shall be back in a month."

She whisked out of sight, all of her fledglings left attacking us.

There were about twenty, and they didn't seemed skilled. I felt like I was in a bad Frankenstein re-make. Yes, Frankenstein multiplies into a million and attacks his home city, leaving it in dust and rubbles. They weren't very hard to kill. All you had to do was rip their body parts to shreds and burn them, just like any vampire norm—or even ones who had special abilities. The lasts were finished off by the werewolves, who had decided they'd camp out over here, in case of any attack by Kirsilyn.

The night was worrisome. No one had rested. The tension stayed where it was. We all were doomed for an unexpected twist. And I was scared.

After all the times I'd protected Bella, could she protect me this time? Would she outlive this monster, this abomination? What would the world sacrifice? Would every being on the face of the earth render under her control? Or could the Volturi do enough to destroy her? Did the Volturi do this on purpose? Had the supernatural world survived lone enough for God to be fed up with it? Would we all be damned or some saved to the good? But the main question was: Who would win?

The next few weeks were harsh. No one had rested since. Bella had suggested we flee to Italy, readying the Volturi for this monster, this abomination, but I refused to let them see her. They couldn't know about Priscilla and her abilities, otherwise they'd hunt her down and bring back those humans they thought would give them power but were accidentally killed. I voted that we just killed her right away. If her power was anything like Heidi's, then it probably couldn't break those who were mentally connected to their partners, like this whole family. Besides, if Bella could shield all of us, then couldn't we manipulate her easily? All she had to do was reach all of the vampires and connect to one of the wolves and she'd protect them all. But then how would we pursue our attack? We'd have to have pretty destructive mental attacks on our side. This would mean that our friends would have to fight with us. Again.


	16. Recalled

It took us a while to call in our reinforcements once more, but they came, prepared for this unknown villain. We'd called on Charles, Tia, Makenna, Zafrina, Mary, and even some of the Volturi guard were required to come. Heidi, Jane, Alec, and Demetri came flying in to Forks, knowing that though Demetri and Heidi had were accomplices in creating Kirsilyn, they agreed that she was a problem to the vampire world.

Bella was begging me to teach her moves, defensive skills, but I refused. Seeing her as a target, all the ways I could kill her; I'd just gotten her back and there was no way that I would kill her a second time.

"Ask someone else," I'd said, angry that I'd seen her as a target. "Demetri and Jane probably know more than I do."

"Yes! The forest needs some thinning out," Emmett exclaimed.

"I'll be more than delighted to help you out, dear Bella." Demetri's smile said that it was more like revenge, but I'd let him teach her anyway.

Renesmee was more than ecstatic about the company, however, she still worried about all of us—especially Jacob. He'd been running patrol around the house for the past eight months and he'd put in an extra effort this past month, just in case Kirsilyn return from where ever she was watching.

And it scared me to know that she was sitting on a high throne, watching over us like minions. Her domination was apart of her plot, and she could control minds so domination would come easily to her.

All the while, humans were being slaughtered, thirty or forty a night in many towns and cities around the world. It was crazy, knowing that malevolent, malicious, criminal creatures were roaming the world, killing every thing in sight, and I was compelled to do nothing about it. Slowly, each day, it felt like my mind was slipping away. Some days I found myself depressed, uncared for. And then Bella would pop into my view and I'd be all smiles again, not caring about anything but my family and their safety.

The phone rang and rang. Bella'd answered it quickly, bringing me back into my depression.

"No, Dad, you can't come see Renesmee, now. We've got some company and they don't like humans." I could tell she was lying, trying to protect her father from those in the house who fed on humans, and from him knowing about Kirsilyn's destructiveness. "No, Dad, I can't bring her over either. I'm sorry, but you're just going to have to wait." There was a pause as Charlie was trying to work something out with Bella. "I have to go, Dad. I'm sorry but you can't see Renesmee, right now…Yeah, I love you…Bye, Dad." She hung up, holding on to Renesmee, walking back over to me. The smiles appeared again. No more depression.

The month passed by slowly, the end of the world coming closer and closer. More people were being massacred and killed, the population decimating by the thousands each night. Kirsilyn sitting on her throne, smiling evilly more and more each day, assuming her own victory, as each day and each night dragged on. It was like a chef, slowly pulling his knife out of the cut cake, not wanting it topple over or ruin the design. And then the day came, and we would fight.

I'd turned on the news, bored to death, waiting for Kirsilyn to appear out of nowhere. But as I turned on the news, she appeared on the screen and started talking to the news reporter.

"You have paid a lot of money in donation of this charity?" the news reporter asked, pointing to the Make A Wish Foundation that was behind them.

"Yes." Her villainous voice rang through the speakers and in my ears.

"So how'd you get all of that money? Just continuing to work at your job?" the news reporter pressed on.

"Well, I'd like to say a few things about myself. I am a vampire," she'd announced.

The news reporter broke out in a small laughter, disbelieving her statement.

"You don't believe me?"

"Not at all. Ms. Brent, vampires are fictional characters. How could you possibly be one?"

"I can prove it." She grabbed on to the neck of a nearby pedestrian, sinking her teeth into the flesh of her neck. The bystander cried out in terror, and as everyone saw, they went screaming, running around. Then she'd held up the camera herself, the cameraman sprinting around for his own life. "And so are the Cullens. Pale? Cold-skinned? Never go on the La Push reservations? That's because those La Push kids are werewolves. The Volturi in Volterra? Vampires. Random roamers that look like the Cullens, but have black eyes? Vampires. The Denali coven up in Alaska? Vampires. The Libishomen are true! They've come for revenge. Face it, world. You're not living in the world you thought you were. Now I'm off to go kill some other pedestrians and some mortals. But blame the Cullen's for making me like this. Blame them!" Blood dripped from the camera screen and her mouth as she left every broadcaster horrified.

Everyone had dropped what was in their hands—except for Bella, who didn't drop Renesmee. She'd just exposed our entire existence, and we were recalled to the human world, no longer fictional characters in their minds, but as ferocious beasts that secretly roamed the world, sucking people's blood.


	17. Massacre

The knocking was expected, but we were so shocked that no one bothered to answer the door. We were all staring at each other, totally aware of what had just happened. Millions of general thoughts gathered in my mind.

_Destroy the Cullens._

The yelling and banging of the small hands of humans only sounded like light taps against the door, but as they all gathered into a mob, with torches and every thing, it sounded like a vampire slamming his own fist against the door a thousand and one times.

I looked up, clueless at the rest of my family and our temporary visitors. What could we do? Could we race to Italy under the protection of the Volturi? No, humans were probably attacking there, too. Besides, what could their powers do if Kirsilyn could just manipulate them? And we couldn't run. Nope, that was out of the question. So what? So we fight? Kindly massacre all of the humans outside the perimeters? Or die. Those were our only choices: fight, risking mortal life, or die, ending the existence of all supernatural around the globe. And if we did fight, how much would we decimate this time? A little? A lot? There was no answer to that.

Heidi was the first to speak again.

"So what do we do?"

No one answered her for a moment, unsure of what the chances were of what we could do, preserving our existence and mortal existence.

"You could try to render their thoughts," Demetri suggested. "Then try to get them to rethink that there are no such things as vampires or werewolves. Get the broadcasters and all of North America to think it was some stupid prank, some joke with fake blood."

"But that only solves the human problem. We still need to fight against Kirsilyn," Jasper countered.

"Well, let's just work on one problem at a time, okay?" Bella stated.

"So Heidi will scream immediately as Jane opens up the door, then she overpowers them," Alice summed. "Everyone stand back."

Most of us were already backed up to the wall, ready to make a dash if the humans got past Heidi and Jane.

"Jane, open the door," Alice ordered.

I took a crouching stance in front of Bella. I could not lose her for a second time just by mortality. I bared my teeth, prepared to protect her and Renesmee from the on-coming mob. A hiss slowly made it's way up my throat, and as the door opened another half-centimeter, the hiss grew louder and louder. I took two steps backward, barely touching Bella, who'd protectively held Renesmee closer to her face, her neck. My eyes beamed forward, watching the mob of humans crowding to get in. The first one to attack Bella was going to die.

Then Heidi's high-pitched scream interrupted all of my thoughts, and then I came to have my own mind again. I could hear what she was telling them, though. Bella's shield must've been activated. And still I held a protective stance in front of her and Renesmee.

"Humans, repeat after me," Heidi commanded in a calm voice, or at least she was trying to keep it calm.

"Yes, master." Perfect synchronization of mortal voices, and a multitude of marvelous scents, were released into the tense air.

"Vampires are not real," she said.

"Vampires are not real," they repeated.

"They are only fictional characters."

"They are only fictional characters."

"Werewolves are not real."

"Werewolves are not real."

"They, too, are only fictional characters."

"They, too, are only fictional characters."

"This was all just one big joke."

"This was all just one big joke."

"Kirsilyn Brent did not bite any pedestrian."

"Kirsilyn Brent did not bite any pedestrian."

"Fake blood was used in the process."

"Fake blood was used in the process."

"And you will murder Kirsilyn Brent. Her mind can not control yours." I saw her move around her arms and her hands, kind of like Siobhan did during our meeting with the Volturi only less than a month ago. She was securing her hold on the human minds, the mortal power.

"We will murder Kirsilyn Brent. Her mind can not control ours."

I searched their minds, making sure that she had complete control and that no one was having any doubts.

_Vampires are not real. They are only fictional characters. Werewolves are not real. They, too, are only fictional characters. This was all one big joke. Kirsilyn Brent did not bite any pedestrian. Fake blood was used in the process. We will murder Kirsilyn Brent. Her mind can not control ours._

No one's mind was out of place, and Heidi had done well. Kirsilyn could not break her power of control, even if she'd really tried.

"Now, go hunt Kirsilyn Brent down," Heidi commanded at last, the massacre turned away from us and left Kirsilyn to deal with them. She'd probably just suck their blood anyway.

Jane shut the door quietly behind the mortal mob. She turned to me, smiling at me, but not in the evil way; in the way where it was safe for me to stop protecting Bella the way I was. My hissing stopped altogether, but I'd searched the grounds with my mind in any search of any danger, waiting to surprise us at any moment.

"Well done," an eerie voice came from behind me. I whipped around, growling and hissing furiously, but all I saw was the black forest. However, I had familiarized that voice to an extent.

"Turning the mortals on me. Impressive," she complimented, biting her long, fake, scarlet nails as she stepped forward towards the house.

"But let's see you deal with this massacre." Her voice trailed off as she called out her many minions, the zombie creatures.

And as they creeped out of the dark forest, perfect for her plan, I'd realized how many there really were. There were more than I saw last time; many, many more. Probably three hundred more than that. And yet, more kept piling out of the woods. How more could there have possibly been? Two hundred, eighty-six? Seven hundred, twenty-one? More than that? This would be a strange fight.

"Bella!" I thought quickly. She had to shield us from any power that Kirsilyn might have been trying on us during the attack.

"I'm on it already, Edward." That was right. I wasn't depressed; I was actually anticipating this challenge. It seemed sick and wrong.

"Alec, try Kirsilyn," I whispered to him. He nodded without a word, and then narrowed his eyes to Kirsilyn who'd been sitting in a tree, watching the fight below her. She wouldn't be able to hear us.

"Zafrina! Take away their sight," I ordered. "Give them some sort of picture, that way when we get around to killing them all, they won't see every other burning."

I was breathing harder and harder, the zombies coming closer, their groaning becoming louder and louder. It started to irritate me. I felt like I was in some twisted horror movie worse than the monster I was.

"Esme and Alice and Jane, grab flammable things from inside the house. Bella, can you cover them, too?" I demanded.

They scurried into the house, touching whatever was flammable and carrying back outside, that way when they had no sight, we could burn them into ashes. Bella had covered them, too.

"Demetri, Heidi, start going around and burning them all. Zafrina are they sightless?"

"Yes."

"Bella, can you stretch out to Demetri and Heidi?"

"Yes," she answered, a brave tone lingering in her throat as Renesmee clung to her neck.

We eventually got to burning all three hundred, fifty-two of the zombie creatures. It took us a while, but we got it done.

Renesmee dozed off on Bella's shoulders while Bella still held her shield in place over all of us, aware of Kirsilyn's actions. No one had died, which was a good thing; however, Kirsilyn was still alive, which was a bad thing.

I watched Alec all during the burning; he'd been concentrating hard, slowly and carefully creeping up to Kirsilyn's presence, still planted in the elm tree. I figured he was going so slow because he did not want Kirsilyn to notice his power in activation. No, she was too busy pretending to mourn over her dead zombies. And finally she screamed out, in total sensory deprivation, drowning in the blackness of her own existence.

But after five minutes, her screaming halted. I stared back at Alec, worried of what she was doing. He was concentrating even harder, harder than I'd ever seen him concentrate. Then I realized he was struggling, struggling to regain control of his mind.

The two of them fought, the battle was pretty equal thanks to Bella's shield. If Bella wasn't able to shield Alec right now, then Kirsilyn would've totally taken over in the end. The fight was equal, though, and each was losing. Alec losing his mind because she made it harder to concentrate, Kirsilyn having no sight so her mind couldn't control as well. It was the battle of the minds.

Jane looked horrified as she stared at her brother, her soul mate. And I knew this would be bad. If Kirsilyn could control Alec, then we'd all be blind and in total blackness. She would easily kill us all.

After a while, both of them sighed, almost exhausted from the battle. But then both of them smiled. And Alec turned to us, grinning evil, and I knew immediately, that he'd turned over to the dark side.


	18. Hope

"Bella! Release your shield around him!" I screamed at her, waking up Renesmee. Obediently, she did so, knowing that if she didn't we'd all be doomed.

"Jane! Get the Volturi over here immediately! The rest of you call up every single vampire you know! Jacob, get your reinforcements! This is going to be one tough battle," I screeched at them.

I was proud of Bella, and Renesmee, too; Bella because she'd been able to hold up her shield against Alec and Kirsilyn for over three days; Renesmee because she'd gone without food or blood for the same three days without complaining. Her complaints would've only made this much worse for all of us.

And in those same three days, every vampire that roamed the earth was in our backyard, underneath Bella's umbrella, trying to fight against this abomination that Heidi, Demetri, and Renata had created. And Demetri, Renata, and Heidi all felt ashamed and sorrowful for what they'd released into the world, which didn't make Kirsilyn's vengeance any better. It was actually worse.

And for attack, we'd all tried our abilities against her. Randall had tried to throw fragments of tree bark and large branches ripped from the trees surrounding her at her, but they left no mark; however, she did not expect the exertion behind them. Demetri tried recognizing her scent, that way he could personally track her down later. Both Corin and Jasper tried to make her feel like she was worthless, and felt like she should be good, no more domination, but there was no physical affect. Benjamin tried to use the earth, air, fire, and water to physically attack her, but she was quick and easily dodged out of the way. Kyra and Renata tried to shield those who walked closer, anticipating some falter in her defense. Chelsea attempted to create a tie between her and all of us, that way she couldn't destroy any of us, but the physical aspect, again, had absolutely no affect. Kirsilyn was ruthless. Tia tried out her power on her and Kirsilyn freaked out; she started screaming, trying to compel all of our minds with great effort, but the three shields had all blocked her, keeping our minds safe. Zafrina tried to block Alec's sight but failed to do so. Siobhan began muttering words, staying close to the house, trying to will the outcome so that the world would be rid of Kirsilyn, and as she spoke those words, Kirsilyn grew weaker and weaker. Charles began to inflict pain on her, forcing her mind to become weaker and weaker, almost breaking her complete hold on Alec. And Mary tried sucking out her mind-controlling power, and piece by piece, it did so. That was very good.

As the battle continued on, I watched Jane. She was terrified as she tried to burn Kirsilyn, mentally of course, right where she stood. And, like Alec, she was caught in the battle in controlling the mind, her mind. Though her battle went on longer, Jane had some what of a better chance of regaining her own thoughts than Alec did for two reasons: one, there were three shields blocking instead of one; and two, Kirsilyn's minds was growing weaker and weaker by the second. However, Kirsilyn's strength did not completely falter, and in the end, Jane had turned to the dark side, just like her brother.

That was very bad. If there were any chance that any of the shields could be taken over as well, then we were all doomed. And we had to win. The entire world depended on it. The existence of free vampires depended on it. The existence of the werewolves depended on it. The existence of the human race depended on it.

After Jane and Alec, the witch twins, had been under Kirsilyn's complete control, Heidi was our only hope. If she could gain control of Kirsilyn's mind, we'd all be saved. She was our last chance of survival. We needed her now.

Heidi shrieked, her loudest yet impressively, totally focused on Kirsilyn's mind. The scream rang through all of our ears, but only Kirsilyn, Alec, and Jane fell down from its zenith, continuously ringing in their ears. She grunted, trying to evenly fight back, but she was growing weaker and weaker more rapidly now. Heidi reached an even high pitch, knocking Kirsilyn down again. Aside from the pain, Alec and Jane were bolted to the ground by the sound, both whimpering in pain and torture. And as all of us attacked Kirsilyn at once, she lost strength. We were so close to gaining control of her when she exploded. Anger swiped across her face, so much that fury seemed kind, and she regained more strength than she had lost. Heidi, who was taking in and blowing out a never-ending breath, sang louder and louder; so much, that Kirsilyn staggered back steps as if rammed by an invisible bus.

And with each shriek and scream, Kirsilyn weakened and Heidi gained enough strength to go louder and higher, weakening Kirsilyn even more. I smiled, seeing Kirsilyn lose to Heidi, and as I looked around on my side, many others were anticipating a sweet, sweet victory.

Finally, the battle was won. Kirsilyn was pinned to the ground by the sound just as Jane and Alec were. We all rooted and cheered and howled; though the ancients had politely kept their ecstasy in their minds, our side rang victorious, defeating the abomination that threatened the human race. Basically, we'd just saved the entire world.

We died down once Heidi began commanding and controlling their minds, setting Alec's and Jane's free.

"You will repeat after me."

"I will repeat after you."

"Domination is bad."

"Domination is bad."

"Harmony is good."

"Harmony is good."

"You shall never harm another existing creature."

"I shall never harm another existing creature."

"You will let the humans burn you."

"I will let the humans burn me."

"Depart. Stand up, child."

And like a robot, Kirsilyn stood up straight.

"Edward, can you check her mind?" Heidi asked, not wanting to turn away from Kirsilyn's image.

I just nodded, already ransacking her controlled brain.

_Domination is bad. Harmony is good. I shall never hurt another existing creature. I will let the humans burn me._

And at the end of her trail of thoughts, I'd realized the mob before, standing behind Kirsilyn, all of their torches and guns, prepared to kill the beast. There were many of Bella's associates in the mob; Mike, Ben, Jessica, Eric, Angela, and Lauren, all stood in cameo, like soldiers, ready to attack Kirsilyn when they had the chance. Mike had turned his head, spotting Bella, Renesmee, and I, shaking his head in disgust. Jessica was too caught up with fantasies about her and Johnny Depp to even realize her victim was right in front of her; Angela was regretting murdering Kirsilyn. My guess was that she and Seth would get along very well. Eric had, too, noticed Bella and was awing at her beauty, conjuring up his own fantasies; Lauren was feeling trepidation of the homework she had to do this coming weekend, and Ben was replaying his favorite scenes of Kung Fu Kid through his mind, smiling like a dork.

Kirsilyn turned around, kindly embracing the crowd behind her. They all stared back, having second doubts on being the first to move against her. They all gazed at her beauty, a few starting to think some unpleasant thoughts with her. I tried to shut them out. Finally, a woman yelled, sticking her torch in the heart of Kirsilyn's body. Kirsilyn's body slammed to the ground as more and more people burned and staked her. The cup of tea, of blood shattered against the ground, spilling everywhere.


	19. Lined Up To Die

We all watched intently as the lasts of the flames flickered, the humans unsure if the burning and beating would kill her, I was unsure if we could handle her coming back to life. And as the fire burned out, the tension was released and relief had settled in. Thankfully, Kirsilyn's ashes had soiled into the ground, the way they would be forever.

Caius broke the silence between the humans and us, debating whether or not, out of mere responsibility, to murder those who'd created Kirsilyn.

"What shell we do now? Risk another creation like that again? If one could be created by three powerful ones,"—he hesitated saying vampire in front of mortals—"then one as such can be created once again, can it not? he debated, eyeing Heidi, Demetri, and Renata. "Why should such creators exist, then, if it is possible one can be created again?"

After Caius' petty line of questions, Aro spoke out, agreeing with his brother.

"Yes, yes, indeed. Such an abomination can not be created again, or given the chance to. So what do we do now? Brothers, we must confer!"

"Wait!" Renata protested. "If you destroy us three as well, then you lose power, which you've been trying to gain ever since this golden-eyed coven had gained the psyche and the mind reader, and now the shield, and you're just going to give it away? Master, how can I protect you if I don't exist any more? How can Demetri track down anyone we need to find? How can Heidi render minds when we need a feast or when you are conferring for justice? You need us and if you destroy us, then the entire guard and all of your power will collapse." Her voice cracked, as if she didn't want to end her existence. Renata started to tremble, stepping back so that she was evenly and accurately flanked by Heidi and Demetri, who stared wide-eyed at her.

Renata was known to be a very selfish vampire, more selfish than I had thought myself to be. She only cared about herself and Aro's safety, which was the only reason she survived. She rarely considered Caius' or Marcus' safety, or anyone in the entire guard. She was very complacent and self-centered, especially when feeding. She usually had one body to herself,, which was surprising that she'd even agree to create Kirsilyn instead of draining her out completely. But as a shield, she just defended herself and Aro and nobody else, so selfishly, she'd want her life to be preserved, never mind Demetri's and Heidi's lives.

"Dear Renata," Aro started. "We can not let such a beast roam the world ever again, and even if you promised to never ever create such a thing again, we can not risk that chance. Our secrecy depends on it." I could tell that the ancients were trying to be wordy, swerving around words that6 would give away the secret to the mortals, who were murmuring to each other, utterly confused.

"If we took that chance," he continued. "Then we could be exposed."

"But what about your quest for power, Master? You lose that to a small risk if you destroy us, you know," Renata protested again.

"Renata, dear, our power means much less than our secrecy. You know that. It was your plan to dominate anyway. We can all, obviously, see now that Kirsilyn got her desire for domination from you." This discussion sounded like people were blaming each other, instead of taking full responsibility of power. I couldn't help but laugh.

At this statement, Renata was appalled; she was speechless. She stuttered, trying to find some evidence to shoot against him, putting the ball in his court. "Well, you agreed."

"Yes, but I know that destroying you and Heidi and Demetri will only provide the security of our secret; however, you wish to keep your life out of mere selfishness and desire for power."

Renata was once again appalled, stammering to find some sort of protest. This time, she was left empty handed. She stepped back, letting the ancients concur a decision on the existence of Heidi, Demetri, and herself.

"We can't let an abomination wander around the world, not one with their three powers. We can't risk that chance, Aro," Caius hissed.

"But what if the future-seeing vampire saw that they'd kept their promise?" Marcus pointed out.

Aro shook his head. "She'd be too late to get us the information. Besides, her visions are subjective, Marcus. They could mean it now, and she can see that, but her visions can change based on their decisions. Even with her it's too risky."

"So is that it? We murder them? I mean, do we really want to risk the power that we have already by taking away their lives? How do we know that these golden-eyed ones will not attack us immediately after we let them go?" Caius added in.

"They have a mortal audience, Caius. And out of respect for our lost friend, Carlisle, they would not try conquest over the world, rather still preserve mortal life. They can not fight back after our elimination," he explained.

"So it is decided, then?"

"It is decided."

They turned to face Renata, Heidi, and Demetri, who were well-prepared to take their fate.

"We are so very sorry to lose you three. You have done us a great service. However, you've created a monster than had almost exposed our secret. Hopefully you regret your creation just as we regret destroying you. But we must abide by the laws we've created for our kind; therefore, you must be burned," Aro announced; they took it in silence.

Demetri was the first to step up, forming the line to die.

"Can I say something first, before you deal out my death?" he asked kindly.

"Of course, Demetri," Aro granted.

Demetri turned around, facing the rest of us. He sucked in one large, unnecessary breath. It was probably for dramatic effect.

"I'd created Kirsilyn out of loneliness, because companionship did not accompany me, and has not for the past two hundred, seventy-six years. Celibacy had overpowered my existence and I couldn't take it any more. I do regret ever making her, just because as a real vampire, I should have sucked it up—no pun intended—and taken it as a man. I am sorry for ever going against the rules by creating Kirsilyn; however, I take complete responsibility for her. That is all." After his lengthy speech, he stepped up to the Volturi ancients; bowing his head, Felix jumped in and burned him, letting the fire slowly travel over his body. Demetri said nothing as his being collapsed into ashes.

I looked over at Bella, who had a horrified look on her face. She was trembling, trying to keep her shield active while watching Demetri burn. I walked over to her, holding her hand so she knew I was there for her, and that I wouldn't ever let them do that to her.

In response, she just bowed her head, closed her eyes, and said nothing. And every time I saw her emotions churn and change when she said nothing, staying in silence, it drove me crazy, not knowing her thoughts, but at this point, I decided not to push it.

Heidi was next, and she, too, was given permission to have a few last words.

"I am grateful, that you all put in an effort to destroy Kirsilyn, this so-called abomination. I, too, felt the loneliness, though I'd spent my hunting trips with many humans and friends, as well." She bowed her head but kept on talking. "And though it too a great deal of effort to kill my own creation, knowing it would come back to haunt me as loneliness, I had a duty to the earth. And as the hero of this battle, with assistance of the shields and everyone else who fought, I shall go out in style."

She turned around with a gasp, unknowingly facing the ancients.

"Thank you, Alec!" she thanked, and Felix jumped at her, too. Heidi took it in style, a dying hero, without saying anything or screaming. Blue sparks flared as the last strands of her dark brown hair fell to ashes, being smothered by Felix's foot out of honor to the sacrificial hero.

I glanced at Bella, who'd stopped shaking but still held a stiff position after hearing the crackling of the flames so clearly. Renesmee clung to Jacob, closing her eyes tightly, burying her face in his fur. He stared at the ashes, grinning because two vampires had already been murdered, and a third one was going to die, too. He was actually anticipating their deaths.

Renata was last to go, and instead of giving a pretty speech based on her wrong doing like Heidi and Demetri, she threw a temper-tantrum, kind of like a five-year-old not given a lollipop in a candy store.

Murmurs and words of confusion erupted in the mortal mob, until one male cleared his throat, catching the attention of the ancients.

"Yes?" Aro questioned, wondering why any mortal would decide to stop them.

"Why are you burning people?" he asked in a childish way.

"Because they are accomplices to Kirsilyn, dear one. No need to be afraid, this is the last of them," he kindly explained, keeping it general so as not to expose us right here, right now.

"Oh," the man said quietly. "Carry on, then"

Renata screamed some more, protesting her death like the complacent vampire she was. The flames flickered a bright red as the last of the creators were burned to death; peace could almost be felt now.

And as soon as Renata's ashes were thrown in the river—which was done out of despise and disrespect—Bella had released her shield, grunting from so much exhaust. She was panting just as hard as Jacob was.

I gave her one giant hug as Rosalie provided blood for Renesmee. I knew that both Bella and I would need animal blood soon, and so would the rest of my family; the visiting vampires would probably pick off the few strays that departed from the mob in front of us.

I kissed Bella's neck and throat and cheek, happy to physically reunite with her after so long, no distractions whatsoever. She turned in my arms, standing on her tippy toes so our lips would meet. Her arms wrapped around my neck, her scent completely intoxicating. Her fingers tangled in my hair; I forcefully pressed her lips to mine again and again. I snaked my hands around her back, holding her tighter to me. I could feel her tongue swipe my bottom lip, begging for entry; willingly, I split my mouth open, her tongue naturally exploring the inside of my mouth, mine searching hers.

I was just ready to take my shirt off when there were a few rough coughs from Emmett, Caius, Tanya, and Charles, and a low bark from Sam, telling me that most of them were annoyed at the public display of affection. And as I looked down, I noticed Bella was curved around me in a way that Wasn't meant for the public eye.

But as I looked at the scenery in front of me, absentmindedly reading their minds, I came across a few that would definitely cause the earth more trouble.

_These guys, the pale ones, are vampires! They have to be! I saw that one suck the pedestrian dry!_

_We must kill them!_

_The werewolves are huge! Aren't they mortal enemies?_

_Edward! He made her one of them! He tricked her in to it! She could've been safe with me. The idiot!_

And it was Mike's thoughts that tore me the most. Bella knew exactly what she was becoming; she wanted it from me. She'd figured it out on her own, so she wasn't an idiot. However, I didn't know what we'd gotten ourselves into right now.

More humans began remembering, and that was bad; very, very bad.

"They know," I exclaimed.

"How?" Aro wondered.

"When Heidi died, so did her power of them. They remember Kirsilyn's debut on live television. They saw her suck the blood from a nearby bystander. They remember every thing she told them."

No one answered me as we all, with perfection, stared straight ahead at the mortals who'd reformed their mob. They lined in rows, their torches and pitch forks well lit up and prepared to kill us. We all stepped forward a few inches, as if lined up to die.


	20. I've Only Gone To Rest A Little While

They screamed and yelled at their attack, charging forward at a bunch of highly skilled vampires that could kill them all. Many of them had on cameo clothes and boots, trying to hide and ambush us when we could easily see them through our defined eye sight. Many of them tried to run away, afraid of being slaughtered and sucked dry; however, we were five hundred times faster than they were. Many of them were armed with guns and tranquilizers, thinking that they could easily murder us with one shot—excluding the werewolves, who'd regretted killing these humans but had to—when it would just reflect off our skin and muscles. Many assumed we'd burn in the light, so they brought flashlights, when we just glistened and shimmered in response. I laughed at their pitiful tools, knowing they'd have absolutely no effect on us whatsoever, at least that I knew of; however, I gave the mortals credit for trying to prepare themselves based on books; at least they read. My guess was that many of them had silver bullets in their guns just to be rid of the pack, thinking they were actual Children of the Moon.

And that thought reminded me of Carlisle. He wouldn't be happy with us killing humans this way, but we had to do it. He probably knew that. If he was here with us now, I assume he'd find a way to compromise with the mortals, getting Jasper to calm all of them down before any violence could be pursued, having Siobhan will no violence or murders. I could see the sun shining through the clouds, knowing he was watching us and protecting everyone that roamed the earth. How he was given the chance to die was beyond me. How he'd taken that chance was even farther. Carlisle should've stayed alive; he didn't deserve to die that way. He was a good man, a good vampire, and a good father. He was compassionate and caring, the opposite of Renata. He was the best.

And I? Well, I was the worst in my own eyes, but in Bella's, I would always be the best. I never really made sense of that until now. She'd loved me immensely, no matter if I was a vampire or not. When she'd said that it didn't matter what I was, she knew that love could conquer all. Of course, I'd know that, too, I'd just never felt it until I'd met Bella. She was different than many of the females I'd come to know, and I'll never be good enough for her, though she doesn't think that otherwise or believe that that is so. Maybe different was what I needed. _You can't find love, only love can find you._ Those words spoke the truth. Only true love was fated, apart of destiny, I guess you could say. But only very few people actually get to experience it; however, the majority of those very few selfishly let it go. And the type of monster I am, Bella becoming a vampire was the most selfish thing I'd ever done, and yet, I did it because she wanted me to; she'd pleaded and begged me to give her immortality, and I'd allowed it. Maybe true love brought us together. It seemed so as I'd tried to break from her only just two years ago, but here we were, holding hands facing death. This was fate.

I glanced around at my family. Having known them for so long, I actually cared for them. Emmett was like an older brother, always ready to fight and challenge. We had a brotherly bond immediately once I'd really got to know him. He was just a giant vampire that was still a kid at heart. Esme was truly like a mother. Her caring brought a motherly aspect to this family, especially when she worried about one of us being unhappy; a people pleaser. Alice was like a younger sister. Always cheerful and ecstatic though it sometimes drove me nuts; however, we were in the mind-seeing, mind-reading abnormality together, and we always understood each other's pain. Jasper, too, was like an elder sibling. He was one to experience things the hard way, so he'd always have terrific advice for his younger siblings—hypothetically—and he could easily make you feel like anything. And Rosalie? Well, she was like the pain-in-the-butt twin sister. You had to share every thing with her, kind of like Jacob, Bella, and I all have to share time spent with Renesmee with her. However, she, too, had learned the hard way: that you always want what you can't have. I'd finally understood her perspective when I'd coveted Bella and had no right to, all because I'd selfishly wanted her. Rosalie and I were equals in a way. We both didn't want our loved ones to be hurt; we'd both taken someone to an extent; we were both highly stubborn and selfish when we had our ways. That's probably why it's always so hard to live with her—because we were so much alike in many strange ways.

The mob had stopped in front of us, waiting for us to immediately kill them, but Aro had a better idea.

"Alec…" He trailed off, waiting for Alec to incapacitate all the humans.

Alec only nodded in response.

The mob of mortals were ultimately shocked by his power, and the surprise sensory deprivation.

"All right," Aro started to explain. "I say we run immediately, and all hide in cognito some where in the world where they'll never find us. We let the myths rebuild up, but for now we hunt on animals only. No humans. Is everyone clear?"

It was a very well thought-out plan. It was good enough to give it a go. I didn't see anything wrong with it.

We all murmured and nodded in agreement.

Absentmindedly, I noticed the fire from the torches, which had dropped to the ground, was inching closer and faster to us. We'd have to make a quick dash, which wouldn't be a problem.

"I suggest we move quickly," Tanya pointed out. She'd noticed the flames, creeping along the ground, rapidly moving closer to us.

And we all stepped back a few steps or more, we were all wary of some of the humans that were burning in the fire. I felt bad for those humans that died, engulfed by the fire. It was like telling them they've only gone to rest a little while, then pulling the rug out from underneath their feet saying "just kidding, we're killing you instead." They were innocent humans that were dying because we'd cut off all their senses so we could run, instead of being real vampires and facing the problem in front of us. Vampires do not run away. We're all just cowards.

I looked down at my family, who'd curiously been staring back at me, as if the decision depended on me. But I only stared back, saying nothing. If I'd stayed here, they they'd have to stay here, too; Bella would stay no matter what. But would my heroicness cause a lapse in their safety? If they stayed here with me, the three of us fighting this mob, Renesmee rendering powerless, they'd surely die. And I'd already lost Bella once. Besides, I wouldn't give Jacob any more pain by him losing Renesmee, too. It just wasn't right.

So what was right? Was running away the best thing for my family? But then it would define myself as a coward, which I was not. However, could I be selfish enough to risk my family's safety and Jacob's pain so that I didn't seem a coward, or did I love my family enough to run away, given an image I wasn't? So it seemed that running away was my only choice.

But what was I leaving behind? Every thing I'd built up? Hardly. I could easily rebuild a foundation with my family once we were settled in again. But I'd be leaving behind all the memories, all the moments I'd had with Bella. I remember her stench and how I'd thought of massacring and murdering her right in that small Biology room. I remember how I was intrigued every night, watching her sleep peacefully, jokingly thinking that the first time she'd said my name, she was awake. How it rang through my ears that she didn't care what I was. How it raged and infuriated me when I'd seem her beat up in the dance studio. How I'd reached an even higher zenith when I heard her scream from James' teeth sinking into her skin, leaving his venom in her system. How I was able to save her more than I wanted to kill her. The sweetness of her blood. How I'd regrettably left her here with werewolves, then met up with her in Italy. How I was able to fight off Victoria triumphantly with her right behind me. How I'd been happily married to her only just last August. How she deliberately bore my child, though it killed her. How I wanted to leap into her arms when she was reborn. And how I was standing here, still able to hold her band as we raced into the forest, watching the sea of flames engulf the remains of the cottage we'd left behind.

I could hear the upsetting roar of the humans behind us, most of which were confused as to why we would run or where we went. Even the dogs couldn't find us because some scent combined by ours and the werewolves thwarted their search, luckily. Once again, I was glad Jacob was present.

The trees blew past us, the soft ground trailed behind under our feet. And we kept on running, running and running and running. In about five minutes we'd passed the Canadian border line, the werewolves still running along side us.

And for a while that's all we did. It never got tiring but it made me think, where were we running to? We had no idea where we were all going to hide, and shouldn't we? I mean, probably one of the best places to hide from the humans was probably Antarctica, or the North Pole. It was too cold for humans to survive, living in those places. However, some humans were clever enough to realize that that would be the only place for us to hide safely. We could hide in a volcano, though I'm not so sure about the werewolves. They'd almost be able to disguise themselves as just regular wolves, though their size might give them away. So where could we hide?

And how long? How long would it take for the myths to settle in? Would they ever even settle in? If they didn't, then we'd have to stay in cognito from the mortal world forever, and if they did then we were free to roam the world once more. But would those clever humans stay with the truth and seem psychotic and considered to have schizophrenia, or would they eventually believe the myths and slip back into their own reality? How could this future be known? Alice wouldn't have been able to know because she couldn't predict the whole human race's progress, so the future is unknown, which doesn't help us at all.

So we just kept running; running on and on and on and on. We kept running until we reached a humanless area in Greenland. We weren't out of breath, we just needed a more elaborate plan.

"So what do we do?" Carmen asked as soon as everyone had stopped and gathered again. "Where can we hide?"

"I don't know. I say we hide in Antarctica," I suggested. "Or the North Pole."

"But that may be too cold for us," Charles pointed out.

"And too cold for the humans. They'd never survive trying to find us," I added.

"Yes, but what do we feed on?" Maggie thought aloud.

"Yeah, penguins might not be so good to eat," Rosalie joked.

"Hey, we've got to deal with what we've got, and that's not much," I snapped.

"Why not just plant it right here? The closest village is over a hundred miles away, so we won't have to worry about the humans much; there's a good supply of wildlife around; and the humans won't suspect a thing," Benjamin stated. "Besides, if they do, Edward can hear their minds and we can run to some where else."

Everyone murmured, all agreeing that we stay here. So that was that.

And as soon as that was settled, most of us went hunting in the surrounding forest, staying nearby in case of human hunting activities.

I hunted with Bella, Renesmee, and Jacob, all of us taking down a herd of moose and elk that wandered aimlessly around the edge of the forest. Most of the vampires around attacked the carnivores, seeing as they tasted closer to human than the herbivores. We'd obviously have to keep an eye on the abundance and biological diversity in the terrarium. The environmental affect might expose us as well.

Sitting around for who knows how long was never fun. No one had anything to say, and there wasn't much to do. A few of us went digging in the trash cans at night, trying to find some object that would allow us to stay connected to the world, let us know when the humans had no belief of us whatsoever. It would take a while.

Luckily, Maggie found a radio that still worked in the local dump. We heard many tunes, trying to change from station to station to find some report of news. But the reception was hard to get out where we were, so all we got was static and fuzzy noise, like someone crunching a million potato chip bags.

Eventually we'd gotten some news about us, but it was only that police were scoping out Forks and Volterra. So we could be here for a while.

Bella was walking towards me after arm-wrestling Emmett and Felix, winning both tries. She'd noticed my epiphany on how it was still wrong to be a coward; however, I wasn't that selfish.

"What's wrong?" she asked me.

"We're cowardly, aren't we? We shouldn't be running from this. We should be fighting it!" I exclaimed, almost exploding. "How will this problem ever go away if we keep running from it? I mean, what's the worst we could do? Diminish the whole human race? Only murder a couple hundred people? They'll just keep searching and searching and we'll just keep running and running! It's a never-ending cycle that should stop before it starts. We're vampires, for crying out loud! We should face this! Go against the humans! We'd win anyway!" I screamed. Everyone was staring at me, wide-eyed, wondering what had brought this thought on.

"Edward, we aren't cowardly, hardly selfish, too," Aro said, interrupting whatever Bella had to say. "We are simply walking away to save the human race and reestablish our secrecy, my friend." His voice was optimistic, sure of his information. "Yes, we would win against them, but then, without humans, there would be no more newborns, and most of us survive off of their blood, and every thing would be bland, like this area now, for eternity."

I grunted from boredom, knowing I should go back and fight by myself. It seemed right to do so. For the humans, monsters like me should not be allowed to live. We were imperfect, cruel creatures that were flawless in our actions.

But humans were always flawed—with every thing they did. They could do things and suffer the consequences no matter what they did, whereas, if you were a vampire, you could somehow get away with the deed you did. A human could shoot someone and kill them, getting arrested for their crime while vampires could just suck someone's blood out, kill them, and walk away, no bloody hands. It just didn't seem fair to me. We could easily go back to Forks and fight, dealing with the consequences of exposure and be close to humanity, or run away clean by myths, which takes us farther away from humanity. But was being apart of humanity right?

So I just sat and sulked. A month had gone by, and the most interesting thing that happened was in rained and snowed for so many days straight—it's still raining now. And as the rain fell down, it'd pelted my back like someone softly tapping your shoulder. I could hardly feel it. It just rained all day and all night. Eventually the boredom got to my head.

I ranted on and on about humanity, and how the whole world was whack and screwed up. Nothing was the same anymore. I mumbled on about how rain allegorically represents the cleansing of something—at least it does in books. So where was the change? What were we clean of? Nothing. I yelled and hollered and bantered with people about being stuck here with nothing to do. And it just kept raining.

Finally, there was a day with some difference. It'd only occurred to me after Renesmee had shown me an image.

"Daddy!" she called, ready to leap into my arms.

I held they out for her to jump in to, answering her call.

And when she patted my cheek, an image of Bella came into my mind. She was curious.

I looked around for Bella but found her missing. It was hurtful not knowing where she was, or how long she'd be gone, or where she was headed to if anywhere. Though, knowing Bella, she was probably satisfying her craving as a newborn, and would be back in a little while.

"She's probably hunting," I reassured Renesmee.

She'd wondered how long Bella was going to be.

"I'm not sure, Nessie," I responded honestly. "But I hope she comes back soon."

Jacob came trotting along, in his wolf form, cocking his head to the side.

_What does she want?_ he asked.

I sighed. "She only wants Bella."

His eyes scanned the scenery before shooting out his next question.

_Where is she?_

"She's hunting, most likely. She's a newborn, she'll have to hunt more often than we do."

_But she just went hunting yesterday._

I shrugged. "What else could she be doing?"

His shoulders lifted and dropped, a gigantic wolf shrug.

_Why would she hunt so soon?_

I shrugged again. "Like I said, she's a newborn, she needs blood more often than we do."

_When is a newborn considered a mature vampire?_

"Well, everyone's different. It took me about half a decade, whereas it took Emmett and Rosalie a single decade, but I'd venture to guess that with all the preparation she'd had and the fact that she can resist human blood better than any of us could, she'd probably have two or three more years of being considered a newborn; however, she can handle human blood better than most mautre vampires can. With her, it's hard to say. With craving human blood, she's mature, but with needing any type of blood, she's still young. As a newborn, she needs that strength because as a newborn she uses it up so quickly. You remember how tough those newbornws were, what was it, a year and a half ago? Yes, well, they'd fed so much in Seattle because they needed the strength to fight us off. With her, it's hard to say," I explained.

_Oh._

Renesmee climbed on his back, holding on to his fur, a three-year-old riding a horse. No—Jacob was bigger than a horse, and Renesmee looked about the age of five or six. More like a young princess riding a baby elephant. There went my daughter and her soulmate.

It rained for two nights and two days. There was still no cleansing or change in the situation. It had troubled me, however, that Bella had not yet come back from her hunting trip. It stunned me, in fact. There was no way that Bella would take that long to hunt down some measely animals, unless she wanted a zebra from Africa, or a penguin from Antarctica. That wasn't likely, though. If she went on a far away hunting trip she would've told me, and I would've went with her.

Unless she didn't go on a hunting trip. But then where would she have gone and why? And why wouldn't she have sad anything to me? It just didn't make any sense to me. She couldn't have spent this much time hunting and where would she have gone, and why, if it wasn't a hunting trip? It'd puzzled me, Jacob, and Renesmee.

Another rainy night and another rainy day had passed. Some radio station had said there was going to be a hurricane-like thunderstorm hitting northwest of Washington. Forks was said to be the town to get slammed the most, which was unlucky for those who'd actually taken the time to search for us. At least, that was what the radio station said.

But I wasn't paying much attention to the radio station that was playing. Bella hadn't shown up yet and that frightened me. I was debating whether or not to follow her trail, but that would've been drowned out by the days of rain that we had been having. I could go out and search for her myself, but I don't know how far she went or where she started. I could search the globe for her and be left with nothing. I could turn around, laughing, seeing that she was right there behind me all this time. I turned around and, sadly, she wasn't there. There were only more raindrops behind me. And then I spotted someone who could help me—maybe.

"Alice!" I called out.

Her head didn't jerk up at me, but her eyes were opaque and blank, so she was seeing something. I tried to read her mind, but I only received flying trees, and more and more rain that here. A vampire was running. But which one? I looked around the small clearing, and only one vampire was missing. Bella. Then I'd connected it all.

Bella'd been heading to Forks to see Charlie.

But then why wouldn't she say anything to me? Probably because she didn't was the humans to find me and kill me—so selfless. Or was it because Charlie still held a grduge against me for making Bella a vampire—or whatever he assumed us to be. She must've, knowing I'd never let her go if she told me. That must've been why she left so abruptly and so secretly.

However, how could Alice only see the vision through Bella's eyes? Did it have something to do with her shield? Was she trying to block Alice from seeing who was leaving, never assuming I would figure out her creative plan? It had to be that. It made the most sense. And I was relieved to know where she was—or where she was going anyway.

And then Alice had another vision. One that immediately led me racing to Forks, Washington. Bella's feet stepped out of the forest, right where the rain was as steady as it was here. She looked above her, showing the dark clouds of the thunderstorm to come. I could hear, through Alice's vision, the small rumble of the thunder. The storm was going to hit in about a half hour. And then she looked straight ahead. There were many small lights, balls of fire, I presume. But those hundreds of lights did not force me to start running, whizzing past the millions of trees back to Forks, Washington. It was the mortals in front of her.

At my pace, it only took me twenty minutes to reach Bella in the clearing. Mounds of green and brown blew past me, the rain pelting down just the same as it was in Greenland, but I didn't mind. No, I was too busy thinking about Bella.

Why in the world would she go back to Forks to face the humans? Was she suicidal all of a sudden? Did she do it out of boredom? Did she do it for some sacrifice? A million questions ran through my mind. The most important question was this: would I make it in time? In time to pull her away from her insanity? In time to fight off the mortals in order to protect her? In time to save the rest of the world from chaos? And would she be able to save herself until I could help? That was an even scarier question to think about, one that I hoped was true.

If Bella could survive without me, well, that'd be a miracle. I'd thank my lucky stars that she lived, and I would never doubt the impossible again, for eternity. And then I would scold for her giving me a dead heart attack the entire time she was gone.

And if she didn't survive, I would gracefully let the mortals burn me. I wouldn't care if I'd left Renesmee. She had Jacob, and he was hers. I wouldn't let my family mourn over a stupid goodbye, and I certainly wouldn't want Esme to cry over me and Bella, and my sacrifice. But I'd suck in the pain—no pun intended—broken-hearted and utterly empty until I could see Bella's flushing face. She was too much to miss, and I could not let her die today.

As more trees flew by my face, I could see the light. Not the light as if I was going to die—though I'd gladly follow it if that were the case—but the light of the clearing where I'd see Bella exactly across the field, if she were still standing where she was. I grew more and more anxious as I saw the small lights of the torches. The mortal must've been conferring of our where abouts or how the search was failing.

"_I swear, I saw one! She was the same one that was standing in the center when they fled an we were all sightless and senseless. I swear it!" _I heard someone argue loudly.

"Then why haven't we caught her for the past three days, Stew?" some other man protested.

"Do you know how to accurately catch a vampire?" the man named Stew retorted.

"Well, you ain't doin' it right," the other said back.

So Bella was playing hard to get, like how Victoria would get so close—within reach—and then she'd slip right away, leaving you with absolutely nothing. She'd been slipping in and out of their hands, toying with their minds. I laughed so low that they couldn't hear a thing.

And then I saw her. She was in hiding behind the trees to my right. Her hair was soaked by the drops of rain that seemed like crystals against her diamond skin. Her clothes were damp and faded from the millions of raindrops that had hit them and all the wind she'd created when running. Her eyes finally reached the golden stage, and they toned her skin perfectly. She was still alive, and I was thankful.

And in that same instant she saw me, racing off as if I wasn't supposed to see her here, assume that she was some where else. I tried following her, lopping around the field so I wouldn't be noticed, but I'd lost her scent easily in the rain. Where was she off to now?

I decided to hang around, wait for her, knowing she'd come back to the field where the mortals were arguing and conferencing amongst themselves, still debating whether or not the man named Stew was losing his mind or not.

"I swear I saw her!"

"Well, we need to find these guys and fast. Thankfully, they haven't been feeding on no more humans. But what've they been eatin'?"

"I don't know."

There was a long silence as they tried to guess what we were feeding off of.

"Maybe they're eatin' themselves."

A bunch of mutters and comments were interrupted by a gun shot. I assumed that someone had been deer hunting and had actually found one. Triumphantly, that man yelled, but did not disturb the mortals in the middle of the field.

"Well, they could be scattered around the world, Ronald, but how do we know?"

"Well, you remember what that female one said on T.V. Pale faces, cold-skinned, drank blood, hard body. Some got black eyes, some red and gold. They should be easy to spot; they stand out in a crowd."

"And what about 'em werewolves? What we do about 'em?" someone brought up.

"I don't know, Micah. They as huge as horses—or bigger. I bet they was the big things 'em sheriffs could never catch, like, two years ago."

"Could just shoot 'em once you find 'em. Goin' to need some silver bullets, yah know," someone else added.

"I don't know. Don't think we is goin' by fiction books, though."

"Really wish Tom was here," someone mumbled.

"Where is Tom, anyhow?"

"Dunno. Think he was goin' huntin' early this mornin', but he should be here soon—hopefully."

"Yeah."

The mortals conferred some more over the werewolves and the silver bullets. The word "vampire" wasn't brought up in the conversation, which could've been a good thing.

I wondered what was taking Bella so long and why it would've diversed her from me. The rain poured down slightly harder now, the dark clouds inching closer and closer over the field and the mortals. I'd sat down, bored once more as I waited for Bella to return. The trees blew slightly in the wind, crossing my face as it began to pick up, the storm coming closer. I was surprised the mortals hadn't diverted to go home before the storm got this bad.

In the distance, I heard another mortal's heart beating and blood pulsing through his veins as he stepped closer and closer to the clearing. He was dragging something along with him, and it sounded heavy for a human. The leaves stirred at this man stepped out of the opposite side of the forest, closer to where the men had all turned, wondering what he'd brought.

"What you got, Tom?" some man in the front asked.

"You'll see," Tom answered, grinning evilly. "You're going to like this, boys."

He slowly, dramatically, unzipped the giant black duffel bag he was dragging along. And when it was completely opened, the men were cheering.

I wasn't. When I'd sneaked a peek in that bag, which was after the men had finally went home, forgetting the bag, my world stopped. So did time and space. I couldn't breathe or make any sound as I dropped to my knees.

The only thing that held me in the world, the only think my life was worth living for, was laying the the bag in front of me. She was cold stiff, and her eyes were closed completely. I could not see her golden eyes anymore. She had her hands crossed over her chest, right where she'd been wounded in the heart.

I was wrong; Tom had not shot his precious deer, but, somehow, murdered the love of my life. I'd lost her once again.

Memories of her flew in, even when she was human. And the truly showed how much we truly loved each other. We were the greatest love story ever told, and she knew that. I didn't know, until I saw her, what love was. I'd always assumed that love had turned its back on me after I'd been eternally damned, but when I'd laid my eyes on her, I knew I was wrong. Her brown eyes showed the depth of love; how love was as deep as the soul, and how it was only deserved by those who needed it, were fated to have it. And it'd been caling out on both of us. It'd intertwined our lives creatively. Love could conquer all. It could conquer the power of the Volturi, the excruciating pain of the venom, the strength of newborns, the stitches of werewolves, and the damnedness of vampires. Bella was my love, and always will be, and I could never ever defy that. The way she drove me crazy by blocking me; the way she didn't care of what I was; the way she persistently dealt with my stubbornness and pushed against me just to have an even deal. Yeah, that was love. The way I got jealous just from listening to Mike's thoughts about Bella, how I was always attempting to protect her and keep her mortality, and how my eyes glittered and lit up in the reflection of hers when I'd realized she was mine forever, even in a frilly dress that I knew she hated to wear but did for me anywya. That was what I'd call love. The way she gazed into my eyes and I into hers; the way she called my name in that beautiful voice of hers, and how she could immediately pick out mine in a sea of screaming people; the way her neart and breath would race every time I was present, and how her scent kept pulling me toward her, how I couldn't resist at all. The way we were together, and how we saw each other, that was love. And my love was gone.

I searched the pockets of the jacket she'd been wearing. Knowing Bella, she would've been prepared to say goodby to me. She wouldn't leave this world without leaving me with a goodbye. And soon, my hands encountered a folded piece that was addressed to me. And as I read each fragile, heart breaking word, the rain poured down harder and harder.

_Edward,_

_ Don't worry about me, I've only gone to rest a little while._

_ Love, Bella._

The thunder rumbled and the lightning crashed, as the raindrops soaked my broken heart.

*This title was in representation of my grandmother. She'd used this quote as a signification of her life.


	21. Letters To An Angel

I trailed back through the forest, sluggishly heading to the place I was least expected to go. He wouldn't like this, but he needed to know.

It took three knocks before he'd answered the door.

"Edward?" he asked, surprised.

I just nodded my head.

"What are you doing here?" he whispered. "You're supposed to be hiding away from them." He quickly rushed me in the door, away from the outside world.

"Now, what brings you here?" he wondered.

"I lost her, again, Chief Swan."

"What do you mean you lost her?"

"The hunters got to Bella and killed her."

"Well, can't you get that one girl to bring her back."

I shook my head. "She can only bring back humans, not our kind.

"But that wasn't my real reason for coming here. Do you have any paper and a pen?"

"Yeah." He tossed me the flexible paper he'd gotten out of a drawer in the kitchen, and then flung a pen in my direction from on top of the counter.

I slammed the paper on the table, writing down three letters.

_Jacob,_

_I know you're going to be suffering from this news, but I lost her. She'd ran back to Forks to face the humans herself and she lost. They got a hold of her and somehow shot her right in the heart._

_But the worst part is, there is no way I can live without her, and that means facing the humans, too. I trust you enough that you'll take very good care of Renesmee. I will miss you, my son._

_ Edward_

_The Cullens,_

_I am so sorry to leave you, my family, but I can't bear the emptiness that this loss has brought me. You've all seen me at least try to go on without her, but it's too much for my heart to handle. I'm sorry to leave you so soon, especially with no goodbyes but it's a clean break, I have to take it. I wish you all well, and the best of luck with the humans. When I see Carlisle again, I'm sure he'll somehow send the same gratitude. I'm sorry that my loss will give you so much of a disadvantage to the awareness of the humans but it's the way it is. Emmett and Jasper, you're the best vampire brothers a guy could ask for. Esme, you're kindness and caring is divine, and I could never forget your motherly aspects. Alice, it's never good to be normal, and I've figured that out through the human minds, but know that you are special. And Rosalie. Thank you so much for helping Bella out with the baby, and for putting up with me. You are one of the most beautiful women—excluding Bella—I've ever laid eyes on. Please help Jacob take care of Renesmee for me. Goodbye._

_ Edward_

_Renesmee,_

_Daughter, you are a gift to me, one that is special. I could've never asked for a more perfect daughter than you. I am very sorry to leave you as the last parent you have, but know that you, you're mother, and I will always be together in our hearts. I love you so very much, baby. Please, be nice to Jacob. He's been hurt more than you can know, however, I don't see why you haven't fixed that. Trust me, in time you will understand. I love you and your mother more than anything in the world, and she loves you, too._

_ Daddy_

I handed the letters to Charlie, asking if he could hand deliver these to my family up in Greenland. I secretly gave him the latitude and longitude to where we were staying, hoping he could personally get up there to deliver them.

"I bid you, adieu, Charlie."

"You, too, Edward."

And in a second, I was out the door, heading in to town where a crowd of people awaited my death. There were many gasps and horrored sounds coming from the mouths of the humans, but I just sat down on the ground, waiting for the mob to come and take me.

"_Death cannot harm thy self, or harm thy heart, for Death does not hold match for thy impenetrable heart of gold or thy sacred love and thy cherished life. Death is defeated, while thy love for thee claims victory."_

And as I closed my eyes, I saw Bella, ignoring the searing pain the burning had caused me, but I could deal with it, just as long as I got to see her beautiful, brown eyes.

Death was peaceful, as I traveled along the path of light that lead me to my life's meaning, it's true meaning. People have said that the eternally damned have only gone to Hell, but I could see, now, that that was untrue. The Angel of mine had floated above the heavenly cloud; this could've been mistaken for a dream. But it couldn't in the same way, and as the Angel's hair blew behind her, her arms opened up to embrace my welcome, knowing my fate soon after hers. Her white gown was perfect, overpowering the darkness that I'd left behind. And with no interruptions, and no pain to suffer, we could finally be together forever.


End file.
